Make Time Count.
Photo by Rishad Tobaccowala
Life is a journey through time in search of meaning.
A definition of success is the ability to spend time in the way that gives one joy.
To understand what is important before it is too late.
Some ways to make the most of one’s time:
1. Eliminate: Many of us recognizing the limitations of time tend to try to do as much as possible. We multitask and run around in a frenzy. Usually all we achieve is more multi-tasking and more frenzy. Doing more stuff is not the same as achievement.
Activity is not productivity. Showing how busy one is does not indicate much other than we have lost control of time.
2. Focus: The key to doing less is to focus. Here are two filters to help one decide what we should focus on.
a) Comparative Advantage: One should spend our time doing things that we can do better than most people. Some focus areas are easy like being a spouse or a parent, since by definition we should be able to do this better than other folks.
However, for many of the errands we run and the assignments we take on at work, it is important to ask if we consider outsourcing or delegating to a person or colleague who is better than us in getting that task or expertise delivered.
Today increasingly that may be an agentic collaborator.
b) Positive Outcome: We should only do things which give us a positive outcome. Either we 1) earn a financial reward, 2) learn something new, 3) help someone else ( sometimes this is a difficult and hard but it creates a positive outcome for another person) or 4) the experience itself feels good.
If it is not at least one or more ideally a combination of these four outcomes why are we doing it?
3. Scale: We can scale ourselves and our impact and therefore have a great impact with our time. Two ways to do this is to use “leverage” and “momentum”.
Much of what we do as white-collar workers are the 4Cs: create, cogitate, communicate and convince. Basically with a few exceptions our success is based in large part on how we operate as creators and sculptors of ideas and points of view.
a) Leverage: Today technology and scheduling allow people to leverage. We can use social media, good writing and speaking skills to reach many people that we need to communicate and convince. We are not limited to small meetings and groups. Today one can move between continents with the flick of a button.
b) Momentum: The trend is our friend. We need to understand the underlying trends that are driving our firm or our business and, in most cases align with it.
Globalization is here to stay even if the flavor has moved from a US dominated to a multi-polar world. AI is unstoppable given the power of open models which are not under the control of any company. Dario may hope to close the gates but the cow has left the barn. Most countries have declining and aging populations.
Similarly when we focus on changing the culture of our firm or correct a relationship it is key to aware of the difficulty, the time and the setbacks we will face and the multi-year persistence that will be needed.
4. Do new things. Tattoo the moment: While the first three behaviors of elimination, focus and scale are logic driven, this one is more emotion based.
In the movie “Into the Wild”, there is a line about how the core of existence are new experiences. Often what we remember, and which slows time and delivers depth of feeling are new experiences. These do not just have to be travels, new relationships or new jobs but could be as simple as walking down a new street, eating at a new place and going to a new cultural event. If there is a way to tattoo the moment into your memory we should try too.
“The business of life is the acquisition of memories. That is all there is.”
5. Give time to others: One of the best ways to use our time is to use it not on ourselves but on others.
To feel better focus on making others feel and get better.
Nothing is as rewarding as helping other people, mentoring younger people, paying attention to those who cannot help or give us much in material or career gain.
A key is to forget about oneself in our time equation. It is in the giving and not the getting, in the helping and nurturing, that many people find the deepest joy.
Respect other people’s time. A big gift is to give people our undivided attention.
6. Be aware of time: If we think not of the lack of time but the beauty of time, we will find that the time we spend is magical.
Life does not have to be lived forward and understood backward if we decide to pay attention.
Be aware of the fading moments of now.
Look around. Watch the special quality of light or listen to the hiss of the air duct.
Treasure the conversations and even the repetition and lack of differentiation of day after day.
Because one day it will not be so…
And in the end, it is the time that we do not measure is the most meaningful of all.
One Single Thing.
Imagine some of the most talented people in the world with a $150 million dollar budget who create a work which fails to clear $10 million in its first weekend despite being exhibited on 3,000 screens.
Most people call it a failure and a sign of hubris.
Digger is actually very good because it is so audacious in risk taking.
It is like nothing one has seen before even if there are strains of everything one has seen before from Wes Anderson to Kubrick’s Dr Strangelove.
It is amazing to behold since so few artists give everything they have to a work.
This was a movie that did not involvE focus group testing, a/b optimization or a multitude of meetings second guessing every move. Just a bunch of amazing talent giving it everything they have.
Acts of madness forged “Apocalypse Now” from Francis Ford Coppola and in time despite the mixed reviews and the deplorable box-office this will be a movie that will age well.
If you can go see it in a theater do so.