I think the most important question in time management is: "What is possible to change about time?" Many of you reading this are probably up to your eyeballs in deadlines, and would just like a quick solution to getting your projects completed on time, I could spout off a few simple-minded tips, you could read them hurriedly, try to put them into practice, and then get on with getting on with things.
I'm not going to do that. What I've found is that quick answers don't last, and they certainly don't get to the root of time pressures. People are hurrying everything these days, even time management! There's not much point in getting things done if you're a nervous wreck afterwards.
We can't change the way the clock ticks, but we can change the way we experience time if we're clever enough.
Answer these questions: During your best performance in some sport, how did you experience time? When in love, how did time feel? In optimal work, how was time?
Out of the thousands of people I've asked these questions, most say that there was a kind of effortless, frictionless flow, or that they simply didn't experience time at all.
This is important to think about, because if time felt really different from the way it usually does, something other than 'Western standard hurry time' is possible. Even though clock time can't easily be changed, the way we experience time can be substantially changed in some way.
How would you do it? Well, I can say authoritatively that pressure and anxiety about time are due to an imbalance in the heart, head, and throat energies. When the throat is constricted, an excess of energy flows to the head, with a dearth of energy to the heart, and we feel like time is passing out of our control. If these energies are balanced, experience is timeless--not that events in physical time (including your work) don't happen, they just aren't accompanied by pressure.
How can you balance these energies? The best single antidote to 'time poverty' and pressure is to breathe gently, with some consistent awareness of the breath, through both nose and mouth, with the tip of the tongue placed lightly on the upper palate just back of the front teeth. This balances left and right hemispheres of the brain, as well as upper and lower body energies.
This s a simple practice which can be done whenever you remember it--the greater part of the day, the better. But in order to rebalance the energies as they were when you were a child, consistent practice of this breathing technique is necessary. After a couple of weeks you should notice a substantial difference in both time anxiety as well as your overall energy level.
Don't take my word for it--try it and see.
(First published in the Australian CPA Practitioner, December 1999, p. 6)
I'm not going to do that. What I've found is that quick answers don't last, and they certainly don't get to the root of time pressures. People are hurrying everything these days, even time management! There's not much point in getting things done if you're a nervous wreck afterwards.
We can't change the way the clock ticks, but we can change the way we experience time if we're clever enough.
Answer these questions: During your best performance in some sport, how did you experience time? When in love, how did time feel? In optimal work, how was time?
Out of the thousands of people I've asked these questions, most say that there was a kind of effortless, frictionless flow, or that they simply didn't experience time at all.
This is important to think about, because if time felt really different from the way it usually does, something other than 'Western standard hurry time' is possible. Even though clock time can't easily be changed, the way we experience time can be substantially changed in some way.
How would you do it? Well, I can say authoritatively that pressure and anxiety about time are due to an imbalance in the heart, head, and throat energies. When the throat is constricted, an excess of energy flows to the head, with a dearth of energy to the heart, and we feel like time is passing out of our control. If these energies are balanced, experience is timeless--not that events in physical time (including your work) don't happen, they just aren't accompanied by pressure.
How can you balance these energies? The best single antidote to 'time poverty' and pressure is to breathe gently, with some consistent awareness of the breath, through both nose and mouth, with the tip of the tongue placed lightly on the upper palate just back of the front teeth. This balances left and right hemispheres of the brain, as well as upper and lower body energies.
This s a simple practice which can be done whenever you remember it--the greater part of the day, the better. But in order to rebalance the energies as they were when you were a child, consistent practice of this breathing technique is necessary. After a couple of weeks you should notice a substantial difference in both time anxiety as well as your overall energy level.
Don't take my word for it--try it and see.
(First published in the Australian CPA Practitioner, December 1999, p. 6)
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