After hearing complaints about how slow he was in getting dressed in the morning to go to work, Jed decided to examine his routine. He learned that it took at least an hour for him to shave, shower, and get dressed. If he could invest just 15 minutes less every morning, he would generate more than 90 hours a year to invest elsewhere. That represents nearly two workweeks for most of us!
Jed conceived of the idea to turn his morning routine into an athletic event. He bought a stopwatch and began shaving off minutes and seconds every day until he reduced his getting dressed down to 22 minutes flat. That amounts to 38 minutes that he generates every day. That’s 231.16 high‐value hours per year, or the equivalent of almost six workweeks. Or he can invest the time in vacations, tennis, golf, or anything he chooses. How much time can you generate from routine actions?
- Make a list of your routine, everyday time traditions. Include such things as sleep, dressing, breakfast, lunch, dinner, meetings, conference calls—whatever tasks you tend to do on a daily basis.
- Next to each item, list how much time it takes you to complete each task.
- Challenge the numbers. How much time can you commit to shave off each time tradition
- Multiply each of the shavings by the approximate number of days you engage in this activity in a year’s time. (For example, 20 minutes x 52 weeks = 1,040 minutes or 17.3 hours)
- Calculate the total time you could possibly generate in one year to invest elsewhere.
Pick yourself up off the floor and go for it!