What's in Your 24?

 What’s in Your 24?

Of all resources at our disposal, time is the most equitably distributed but also the most finite. I say this because it is evident that we all get dealt a stack of 24 hours every single day. The rich, the poor and everyone in between is given the same amount of time daily. Our utilization of the same, has a great impact on the overall quality of our lives. Whenever you waste your time, you waste your life. Plain and simple. Benjamin Franklyn says “lost time is never recovered.’ While Theophrastus adds that ‘Time is the most valuable thing you can spend.’

So what’s in your 24 hours? While we have learnt to track our expenditure of money (though we still have a long way to go) we are doing relatively poorly in tracking time. There’s a sense in which we don’t pay as much attention to our time as we do our money. The irony is that by using our time better we can generate more money.

Time is so significant that the ultra-wealthy buy other people’s time to generate massive value for their ventures. Some of you reading this are employed. You are basically exchanging time for money. Your employer has bought your time and skills and they are using it to generate value. I can guarantee you that you generate more value for them than what they pay you otherwise they would have gotten rid of you a long time ago. Those with harder to grasp, high value skills are paid significantly more than those who do what every Tom, Dick and Harry can do.

Whatever you choose to fill your time with determines how much you are able to generate. Benjamin Franklyn who has a lot to say on time says that time is money. Let me continue on the line of an employee. What do you fill your time with as an employee? Are you doing a lot of low value work that can be replicated by almost anyone? If so, you are likely to wait for a raise for a long time to come. Why? Because no one is going to pay you more if they can hire almost anyone out there to do what you do. If your job can be done by anyone out there or automated, then realize that as at now, you are still doing low value work. The bad news is that our machines are getting smarter and even those who think they are safe now are all set for a rude awakening. If you are doing what is considered high value work that machines cannot replicate easily and there are very few other people who can do it at your level, then chances are that you are highly remunerated, have the flexibility and leverage to ask for more and are secure in terms of having something to do in the long run. A very good question for you as an employee is what am I filling my 24 hours with? Am I focusing on high value tasks? Not all tasks on your to do list carry equal weight. Some mean more than others. Looking at your key performance indicators, what are the most significant outcomes you are supposed to pursue at your current job? What activities in your daily routine contribute the most to those outcomes? Your answer to these questions gives you an idea of what you need to focus on. The same applies to the self-employed, the entrepreneur, student or any other person.

Whatever dominates your 24 reflects your values and priorities. Many times what we think are our priorities and the reality are far removed from each other. On paper our priorities are grand and noble. In reality, you would be surprised. In this era of constant connectivity, we have a lot of threats to our time. It is possible to get caught up in endless browsing, Eric Edmeades calls it trying to reach the bottom of your Facebook Feed.  You can talk about what is important to you all you want but the question remains when you take a critical look at your expenditure of time, what do you see?

This lack of awareness can only hurt you as a person. Instead of adopting a don’t-care attitude when it comes to your time, purpose to be mindful about how you spend your time to have a better quality of life. The only way to start making better use of your time is by tracking your current usage of the same. Whatever you don’t measure you won’t manage effectively. Until you become clear about where you are losing your time, you will not be able to get a handle on it. The only way to answer what’s in your 24 is to track it. While planning how to use your time is critical, an evaluation of this usage will help you plan far much better as you go along.

If you have never clearly answered what is in your 24, I recommend journaling for you. A journal will go a long way in helping you track your time and how you are using it in a systematic manner. Before the journal however, it is important that you as a person are invested in the whole idea of tracking your time. Tools do not mean much when you are not ready to put in the work as a person.

If you are serious about managing your time better, then you have no option but to tell yourself the truth about how you are spending your time currently. This will get you on the path to optimizing your time which is a resource you cannot afford to waste.

At Optimize Institute we have a course tailored with you in mind that will help you get the most out of your time every single day for the rest of your life. Because you want to do this as a matter of urgency, type in the comments ‘Interested’ and we will get in touch with you. Alternatively you can write to me on asenasam@gmail.com or WhatsApp +254725832477.

I will end with a quote from Stephen R Covey-The key is in not in

 spending time, but in investing it.

Go Beyond

 

Beyond The Reception Lounge

What would you say to someone who lives all their life in the reception? Imagine booking a hotel stay for two weeks for example and on arriving at the reception, you fail to proceed to the other areas of the hotel. It would feel weird right? It is difficult to believe it but this happens more often than we think. Forget about a hotel stay for a moment and let’s think about a house you recently bought. What would we think of you if you only spent your time in the living room? Think about this being a 4 bedroom all en suite maisonette with a swimming pool and a host of other amenities. Why would you want to restrict yourself to the living room only?

As crazy as it may sound, many of us live our lives like this. We are stuck in gear one and have not thought of anything beyond. When it comes to exploiting our immense potential, it seems like a majority of us are still only scratching the surface. This is not the way it was meant to be. We are called upon to do more than just be content with what we have experienced so far. We must aspire to go beyond the reception and exploit the depths of the Hotel. We must look past the beauty of the living room and see the rest of the house. We must scratch beneath the surface and discover what else is out there.

I write this article with many people in my mind but to narrow it down, I will focus on musicians, authors and actors. The thoughts herein though are applicable to anyone who cares about being all they can be while we stay this side heaven.

What do I mean when I refer to living in the reception as an artiste, actor or author? It could mean not looking at your talent as bigger than the release of your best-selling album, movie or book. If the exploitation of your talent ends at the release of that chart topping album, then friend you are living in the reception. Life in the reception ain’t all that miserable. A lot goes on at the reception. There are all these people coming in and going out. You are able to meet and interact with all of them at the reception. Allow me to add however that a lot of this interaction is at a shallow superficial level. If you are to get to know these people intimately, it takes more than your interaction at the reception. There is a lot of beauty at the reception because the reception represents the front office of the hotel. This is where the hotel’s face so to speak is. Nobody wants a reception that looks beaten and all washed up. You can easily get lost in the beauty of the reception and fail to grasp all the other things in the hotel. At the reception there are these beautiful magazines and maybe the screens are on showing you a whole host of interesting things to keep you enjoying the moments as they pass-by. Suffice it to say that the reception is a place full of life and you would be forgiven for thinking that this is where all the action is.

Shock on you, there is more life in all the other areas and as a matter of fact, the best of experiences are away from the public’s view. Beyond the reception, lies the restaurants. I mean it’s all great being where the action is and all that, but when hunger strikes, all that action means nothing unless your stomach is taken care of. When nightfall comes and you are tired and worn out, you need the privacy and peace of your room to sleep and unwind. At such times, the reception is not the best place to be. If the hotel or resort you are staying at has other amenities like swimming pools and golf courses, you will find that there is more fun in those places than at the reception. If you have your kids with you, you will want to engage them in activities which will obviously be beyond the reception. If you are carrying valuables with you, I am 100 percent positive, you will not want to display them in the public area that is the reception. Supposing you want to hold a serious discussion, you will want the privacy of your room or a booth where you will be sure no one will hear a thing about what you are discussing. I share all of this to illustrate the point that the reception as beautiful and exciting as it is, is not everything we need when we are booking a hotel room. Your living room as exciting as it is, is not where your most serious business takes place. Your treasured possessions are most likely locked up in a safe within your bedroom or some other place not so obvious within your house. You do not talk about deep matters at the living room table in the presence of all the visitors and children. You will want to pull your spouse aside and share the things on your heart in private. I guess what I am trying to put across makes sense to you. 

When your exploitation of talent ends at the point of your best-selling album, movie or book, you have just settled for staying in the reception or the living room. Look at all those people in your field who have gone on to enjoy massive success. One thing you will note about them is that they didn’t remain at the reception. They looked beyond the joys of being in the limelight and went for something better out there.

I can tell you this for free, Jay-Z did not become a Dollar Billionaire off of his music alone. His music was a door opener to many other things which combined have brought him such a great fortune. He decided to look at how to ride on his fame to go into many other ventures which have made him who he is today. The same can be said of many other successful artistes, athletes, actors and authors.

Courtesy of the clarity of his thinking, Jay was able to go into endorsement deals, ambassadorial roles and many other entrepreneurial ventures as a result of the recognition of his name. You see the reception was important in his story but it was not all he was about. He used the beauty and appeal of his reception to take people with him into the depths of his hotel so to speak. What are you doing with the recognition of your name in the particular field you are in? Are you simply basking in the glory and forgetting to go beyond? As we speak Jay is into Talent Management through Roc-a-nation, fashion through Roca wear, music streaming through Tidal, he has partnerships with watchmaker Hublot just to name a few of the offshoots of his success as an artist.

The question is are you looking beyond the reception in your own field of operation? Do you see yourself as capable of accomplishing so much more as an artist, actor, or author? Do you realize that there are so many other avenues for you to increase your impact beyond what your music, film or book can do? My challenge to you is that you begin to look at all the different ways in which you can move beyond the reception and go to the places where life is happening. As a musician ask yourself how can I build an enterprise around my music? As an actor ask how can I use my recognition as a force for social good? As an author ask how do I leverage on my authority to impact many more lives for generations to come?  Nobody can answer this question better than you. People’s paths are as unique as they are. What worked for one person might not necessarily work for another. What I am certain of though is that as you deploy yourself in these matters, clarity will come your way concerning what you need to do.

I encourage you to appreciate the fact that there is more to your gift than what you have accomplished so far. I will end with a proverb from Solomon which says a man’s gift makes room for him and brings him before great men. Proverbs 18:16.  Purpose to release your gift and allow it to take you where you cannot go otherwise. Resolve to allow your gift to manifest beyond its basest form. Don’t get so caught up in the little successes that you forego the biggest rewards that await you.  Whatever you do, look beyond the reception and enjoy the fullness of the resort.

Do you want to go beyond with your talents, resources and so much more? Make a point of getting in touch with us via asenasam@gmail.com 

Tight Spot Mentality

 

                                    Tight Spot Mentality

Dr. Benjamin Hardy, a psychologist is the first person I heard using the phrase forcing functions which is the basis for what I would like to share here. He describes them as the pressures you apply to yourself intentionally to raise the level of your performance.

One of the quotes I love which aptly captures the philosophy behind the Tight Spot mentality says that ‘Work expands to fill the time allocated for it.’

As humans we are surprisingly adaptable to the situations we find ourselves in. Whenever your boss or someone else in authority over you gives you a task with a strict deadline, you find ways and means to make it happen. The truth is that you always have this capacity only that you have not been called to bring it out more often.

Embracing a tight spot mentality is critical to anyone who wants to set high standards of performance for themselves. What if a tight spot mentality is something you can turn on anytime you want rather than wait for it to be forced down your throat all the time? How much more would you accomplish if you learnt to apply pressure to yourself irrespective of who was watching over you and waiting for you to deliver?

The Swahili have a saying that goes ‘maji ukisha yavulia sharti uyaoge.’ This can be loosely translated to once you have stripped yourself of your clothes, you have no option but to take that shower. Sometimes the best way to learn how to swim is to throw yourself into the water. When your survival depends on your ability to swim, you learn what it takes very quickly as opposed to when there is no immediate danger. Human ingenuity will help you find ways and means of coming out of tight spots that you would never know you had until you found yourself there.

Think about what happened with many of us when the current pandemic first came our way. We had to adjust swiftly in order to survive and we did it. If you had told us that we would wear masks, sanitize and keep social distance in 2019, it would have sounded strange to us but when COVID 19 showed up, we have had no choice but to adapt. Your ability to adapt depends on what is at stake. The things you won’t do in your comfort zone become easy breezy when your life is at stake. How many creature comforts did we give up quickly to survive the pandemic? All of a sudden, our unnecessary social gatherings were a thing of the past, some of our culturally significant practices like spending much time planning for a funeral for example were thrown out the window. Give a man sufficient motivation and he will accomplish the seemingly impossible. For a moment a majority of the things which looked indispensable in our lives took a back seat. Who would have thought we would close down schools, entertainment joints, places of worship and so much more. I can guarantee that it was never going to happen under normal circumstances. These things were and are vital to our living but once it was apparent that cutting down on them was necessary for our survival, we did it without blinking an eye. Visits to the hospital were also significantly scaled down and a lot of us realized that we visit hospital for trivial matters just because we have a medical cover.

The million dollar question is, what are the other things you have elevated in your life to a degree of necessity that is not reflective of reality? How many things can you do without yet you have made them a critical part of who you are and your existence? What are these things you can cut out or scale down in your life without affecting you adversely?

The secret is to become at peace with creating tight spots for yourself in all areas of your life. You will accomplish so much more once you normalize a tight spot mentality. Cut down the time you use to complete a task by half to see what you can come up with. More often than not, you will realize that you have the capacity to do it once you put your mind to it.

Creating a tight spot mentality

It is important to ask yourself what positive pressure you can apply to yourself in order to get there faster. For some people making public commitments is a way of getting in the zone. This must be accompanied by a heart of integrity such that you can’t be at peace if you fail to fulfil your commitment. For others it is about taking the first step of a project after which it is fatal to drag your feet. With this you have no choice but to carry the project through. In some instances, you apply pressure to yourself by committing to certain consequences which are severe enough to make you do what you have set out to do. A good example is a client of mine who committed to pay a hefty fine for any deadline she misses. The thought of paying that fine is enough to drive her towards doing the right thing. You could think of buying the things you need for a task especially if they are expensive. The fact that you spend money to get those things will drive you to get up and do it whether you wanted to or not. Another tactic is to enter into an accountability partnership with someone who will keep you on toes with regard to keeping your commitments. You can design it in such a way that failure to do what you committed to means you lose out on money that you have already committed in a common pool to your partner.

Many goals are abandoned midstream because there isn’t sufficient motivation behind them. We all need meaningful safeguards around our goals if we will have a chance to actualize them. There is no tool as effective as developing a tight spot mentality. You must make the consequences of failure severe in your mind so that you have no option but to press on. Sometimes it requires that you burn bridges so that there is no chance of going back.  This is a tactic that has been used by many generals to ramp up the motivation of their troops on the war front.  Alexander the Great burned his ships upon arriving in Persia in 334 B.C and when he was asked by one of his commanders about how they will get home, he replied ‘we’ll use their ships.’ This despite the fact that his army was outnumbered probably ten to one. A chines general Xiang Yu ordered his troops across the river and burnt the bride behind them quietly leading them to be so motivated that they beat the mighty Qin in the battle of Julu in 207 BC. It is a risky business but it works magic in getting people motivated to bring out their best. 

What fire are you going to ignite in yourself and what means will you use to ignite it? From this article and any other thing you know about engineering conditions to drive performance, what are you willing to do to accomplish your goals in 2021? What public commitments are you willing to make to get yourself out there? I would like to hear your thoughts and ideas in the comments below.

Do you need help developing a personalized tight spot mentality around your goals and key stone results? Are you ready to throw it all on the line and reach your goals in 2021? Reach out to me via my email asenasam@gmail.com or +254774776413 and let’s get you going down the road of no return.