Marcel Legros - Play the Game of Life

All of us wish we had more time to get things done. However, we all have the same amount of time - some of us know how to use it wisely and some of us do not. The feeling of not having enough time leads to a common condition I like to call “hurry sickness”. We could easily substitute the phrase “worried sick”, for “hurried sick”. This illness steals from us our peace of mind and ability to do any task properly. Think of the last time you were running late and rushing to get somewhere. In your hurried mind, you may have misplaced your keys or forgot to lock the door. You ran back to look for your keys and this cost you even more time. In moments of rush we also tend to have accidents and injure ourselves or others. When we hurry, we make more mistakes because we aren’t present. Why are we so rushed?

Time is slippery and fluid and if left unattended, will leak away from you very quickly. Usually these leaks aren’t huge ones, but lots of small ones that go undetected. Time to get to work!

Identify the Leaks

For one full day, keep a detailed activity log. You can download an activity log here - print it out and you’re ready to go! (Note: You must track everything you do down to the minute for this to be effective.) Make sure you rate each activity by its value. High value would be something that earns money, advances your career, improves your life, or the lives of others. Low value items are the leaks. Examples of low value activities are watching tv, stuck in a traffic jam, smoking, reading a tabloid magazine, gossiping with co-workers, etc.. Once you’ve recorded your activities, add up the time for all activities rated as low in the ‘value’ column. This total represents how much time you can potentially recover in a typical day of your life.

Stop the Bleeding

Now that you’ve identified your time leaks, it becomes possible to stop them from stealing your life. For most people, here is the unholy trinity of time-wasters:

• Passive media (includes most tv, internet, tabloid press, and video games) - If you cannot or will not give up all television, decide to limit your viewing to only your favourite show. Uninstall video games from your system to remove the temptation to waste another evening.
• Driving in traffic - Buy audio books on the topics you’re interested in. You probably spend hours every week in your car so why not make good use of your time? Listen to one audio book a week and you’ll soon become very knowledgeable in almost any field.
• Talking on the phone - Block off specific times every day when you do not answer the phone no matter what. Unplug yourself and you’ll soon see how much you can get done when you’re not constantly being distracted.

Slower is Faster

Yes, you heard me right. Let it sink in. It seems counterintuitive but when you slow yourself down and perform daily tasks more deliberately, you perform them better. Become aware of the quality of your work and the results will pay huge dividends. Live by the 80/20 RULE. The 80/20 rule states that 80% of your results come from 20% of your efforts. I write about this in my article, “Be the 80/20”. You will get more done with less stress and you have more time for the good things in life.