How to make Time your Best Ally

I wish I could have more time!!

If you have not uttered these words often in your lifetime and if you have not heard these words frequently from others, you must not be living on the Planet Earth. In my professional career of over forty years transforming organizations around the globe, I have heard this universal lament from people at all levels. Whether they were trying to lead or follow, they all lamented about the shortage of time. Higher their struggle, louder and longer their lament was.

From the very inception of humankind, dearth of time to accomplish what need to be accomplished has been cited as the key reason for our failures and inadequacies. From time immemorial, there is an ongoing attempt to harness time and make it last longer. Recent techniques (time management, project management, cycle time reductions and others) and evolving experts (time gurus, inspirational pundits and spiritual mystics) have made a fleeting dent, but have not silenced this lament, and so, the agony continues.

The most prevalent method used by individuals and organizations to deal with critical issues/opportunities in a timely manner is to create a list of all items called MUST DO’S (MDO’S), prioritizes them, and organize efforts around those MDO’S. As the highest priority item is completed, the efforts are shifted to the next higher one and so on. Although, this discipline helps us to organize, prioritize, and execute better, nevertheless, the list never ends as more issues/opportunities invade our world and get added to our list. This makes our list of MDO’S endless and we continue to justify our failures by blaming on the cruelty of time.

In order to shrink the list of our MDO’S and accomplish more in our lives, I have successfully used and propagated an uncommon but simple approach called DND’S (DO NOT DO’S). Looks like an alien word, but it has the power of making our lives more fruitful and enjoyable. DND’S are a twist to our habitual conditioning of being completely engulfed with our endless MDO’S. Think for a moment, all of our time and energy is expended in  working on our must Do’s, but we do not make an  earnest effort to identify and discontinue our habitual activities and practices which do not add any value to our goals and aspirations, and they continue to rob us of our precious asset- the time.

Let us do a simple exercise. On a piece of paper, on the left side, Please write down 5 most critical things you have to do in the next 5 days and also write down 5 things on the right side which you should not be doing as they add no value to your priorities and goals. If you are like most people, it will take you approximately 3 to 5 minutes to write down 5 critical items to do and it will be a real struggle and will take hours for you to identify (if you are lucky) even one of those 5 non-value adding things you keep on doing habitually and robotically.

Why it is so?  Because, firstly, our mind is all focused on what is urgent (MDO’S) at that moment and we do not have motivation to think about anything else how important it may be. Secondly, we have not conditioned our mind to continuously identify and evaluate those non-value adding activities because they have become a part of our system. The fact of the matter is that until and unless, we identify and eliminate those DND’S (non-value adding activities/practices), we can’t have adequate time to accomplish to our full potential.

 "DND’S are a twist to our habitual conditioning by encouraging us to undo part of what we are cultured and ordered to do
 

To emphasize the importance of DND’S, let me share with you a true episode of my professional life as follows:

 Effective immediately, I am discontinuing my weekly staff meetings and will let you know when we will need our next staff meeting.

My above message to all of my direct reports was nothing less than an earthquake as it initiated speculations and concerns. This declaration of mine came just a few months after I took charge of an extremely large, but a very struggling organization.

In all organizations, weekly staff meetings are mandatory rituals like going to the church, temple, mosque or shrine on a fixed day of the week. Managers at all levels of organizational hierarchy have to conduct these meetings. In all organizations (with very few exceptions), any disregard of this ritual may lead to reprimand or outright removal of a manager/leader from his/her assignment.

Well, the earthquake and its aftershocks subsided, and eventually disappeared. For the next two and a half years, I led that struggling organization through a transformational journey without those formal weekly staff meetings, and that organization became the envy of its counterpart organizations. 

In the case of the above-stated practice of weekly staff meetings that I discontinued, what I discovered was that the harm done by that ritual far exceeded the benefit it was providing for the organization. Let us look closely at the mechanics of those weekly meetings:

· Each member of my staff presented his/her state (progress), most of which I had already known. They overstated their accomplishments (to impress me and their peers).

· They focused on excelling through presentations (mostly excellent presentations of their lousy performances).

· They provided an update on the actions generated in the last staff meeting (mostly dictated by me).

· They listened and made notes of the actions for the next weekly meeting (again mostly dictated by me).

What was really happening in those staff meetings (mandatory ritual)?

· I was being told most of what I already knew (a waste of a precious asset- time).

· I was managing their processes by telling them what to do (stifling creativity).

· I demanded their progress update on actions mostly imposed by me (fostering compliance).

· I was giving them solutions and subsequent actions for their issues and opportunities (creating dependence).

· I was allowing them to make presentations-a mesmerizing act to impress me and their peers (encouraging exploitations and manipulations).

Now you be the judge!  By conducting those staff meetings (a mandatory ritual) in a structured and formal way, I myself (the so-called esteemed leader of that organization) was wasting organizational assets, stifling creativity, fostering compliance, solidifying dependence, and promoting exploitations and manipulations!

By all standards of fairness, for the first few months, I was not the savior or the leader of that organization, but a meek puppet or a blind follower of organizational formalities. Most leaders following harmful, structured, and formal practices deserve to be fired, but in the realities of organizational functioning, they get applauded for discharging their responsibilities faithfully.

By eliminating the formality of that ritual—the weekly staff meetings—we created better avenues of utilizing our time and energy in a more helpful, creative, and facilitating way. Although on rare occasions, I used to conduct meetings with my staff (not formal, not structured) to discuss some critical issues, but, I initiated more personal interaction with them on a one-to-one basis by going to their land of action (their areas) and sincerely encouraging them to see me if they needed to. This way, our relationship became more open and honest without my authoritative ego and their fear of authority. The miraculous transformation of that organization in a short span of time was due to many strategic and tactical movements of the turnaround journey, but the removal of that harmful practice (DND) was a significant catalyst for the momentum of that transformational journey.

By narrating this episode, I am not advocating that all staff meetings should be  discontinued to enable any organization to achieve the pinnacle of success,   but the fact of the matter is that in our individual and organizational lives,  there are countless habitual and formal activities that do more harm than good and we are neither cultured nor disciplined to question, evaluate, and refine/eliminate them. DND’S provide us the courage and discipline to undo all or parts of those harmful habits and formalities.
 

Institutionalizing DND’S Challenging and discarding long-established habits/practices is like daring to
touch the sacred cow! So, the most critical question before us is: How can we institutionalize DND’S in the very psyche of an individual or an organization so that it becomes a part of their day to day functioning?. Since our mind is not conditioned to even think about DND’S and we are also laser focused on our MDO’S, it may look like a titanic task or a mission impossible! But, in reality, yes, it is hard, but not impossible. It can be done. Take my word for this. I have done it and have made many individuals and organizations to do it. What is required is the humility to accept its need, sheer determination to get started, and a firm discipline to practice and follow through.

 

 “What lies in our power to do, it lies in our power not to do”

Aristotle

 Let us briefly look into the following process to institutionalize ND’S into an individual or organization’s psyche:

Process to institutionalize DND’S: It is all about conditioning your mind and broadening your focus. To start with, first thing in the morning, please write down five critical things (MDO’S) you have to do that day on the left side and one non- value adding thing (DND) on the right side which you need to stop doing. Keep all these six things in your focus as you devote your efforts during the day. Next morning, evaluate the whole list, strike down the completed items on the left side (MDO’S) and add more items but keep the total to five MDO’s again. Evaluate and reflect on your progress for the one item (DND) you wrote on the right side, but keep it there and do not add any more item to the list on the right. Repeat this process honestly and faithfully every morning for the next three weeks. After three weeks, if you evaluation makes you feel confident that you have made significant progress in not doing the one item on the right, add one more DND to the right and repeat the process again for the next three weeks with your daily evaluation and reflection for the five items on the left (MDO’S) and two items on the right (DND’S).

At the end of the second three week period, evaluate your progress on the two DND’S and make a determination if you are ready to add the third one. Do not force yourself if you are not comfortable with the results. In that case, let it go for next three weeks period with your focus on the five MDO’S and two DND’S and then re-evaluate. Continue the process till you have four DND’ on the right. From that point onwards, for the next six months, you do not add/delete any DND and keep on focusing/not doing those four DND’S along with focusing on deleting/adding but total five MDO’S.

In this whole process, you are going to experience five roadblocks  engineered  by your tricky mind. The following are those five natural roadblocks and the helpful advice to overcome them:

1. Ego: Your mind will try to convince you that are too smart and you should not waste your precious time on something which is not urgent at the moment. Curb your ego and remind yourself that openness to new ideas is the only path to sustain and enhance smartness.

2. Inertia: Despite your sincere desire to identify and discontinue your DND, you keep on procrastinating and putting it off for another day. Remind  yourself that the only way to transform intentions (sincere desires) into intended outcomes (desired results) is to act now.  

3. Identification: Identifying your first DND can be the most difficult part as your mind is not conditioned for this. Most people find the first identification very hard and give up and thus rob themselves of a precious opportunity for their progress and accomplishment. Be persistent, patient, and   optimistic, and you will be able to pinpoint that jewel. Process mapping by writing down every component of your daily activities for a few days and assessing them with the yardstick of value (benefit/harm) can help you to identify the first habitual non value adding activity (DND) and you should start with that. Remind yourself that this is a personal discovery and not something you can copy, borrow or steal from others.

4. Temptation: After identifying and focusing on the first DND, you will be tempted to add more DND’S prematurely without being reasonably comfortable with not doing the first one. Avoid this tendency at all costs by reminding yourself that you cannot start walking till you have learned to stand up.

5. Setback: It is not uncommon that after becoming reasonably proficient in identifying and discontinuing a particular DND, you start doing it again. This failure should make you feel bad, but it should not dissuade you and you must start over again by not doing it with increased resolve. Remind yourself that failures are essential stepping stones of any learning and improvement process.

During the six month period of your daily reflections and not doing those four DND’S, you will be pleasantly surprised to notice that your ability to complete your must do’s (MDO’S) has started to increase dramatically and your lament for not having adequate time to meet your priorities and obligations has started to subside significantly. What has happened to you! Is it a rare coincidence or a divine miracle? None of these two, but it is the result of a simple and deliberate process of your mind habituation. By following this process in a disciplined manner, you have broadened your focus and have conditioned your mind to look at both sides of the coin (the value added as well as the non- value added aspects of your activities) and have thus learned the secret of optimal time management.

In conclusion, curb your ego of being too smart, take a pause from your overindulgence with your MDO’S and start embracing and executing DND’S with equal vigor and passion. By doing so, not only your lament for inadequacy of time will be quelled significantly, but, you will also make time your best ally. Additionally, you will experience a mysterious thrill in discontinuing your DND’s which is far more powerful than the satisfaction received from completing your MDO’S.