Our waking hours are spent one of four ways. When it comes to time we either:
- Waste it
- Spend it
- Invest it, or
- Cherish it.
Assuming we’re awake 16 hours each day, our efficiency, happiness, and body of work achievements are powered or retarded by accumulated time decisions.
Since waking hours are finite, and we treat Wasted time, Spent time, Investment time, and Cherish time as four slices of pie, when one slice is large another must be small.
Low performers operate less efficiency than strong performers because their slices of pie in the Waste and Spend categories are larger than the slices of high performers — who are very aware of their time decisions and consciously make behavioral choices that maximize a return on time invested.
Efficiency and sustained excellence, therefore, are not accidental byproducts of a high-performer’s life. He or she (consciously) makes different, smarter, and consistently better time decisions.
Here is a quick look at the four categories of how time passes:
1. Wasted time comes in a myriad of forms, whether it’s watching reruns, mindlessly crawling the internet without specific intent, driving around lost while refusing to get directions, or hoarding so much stuff that locating something when wanted or needed requires a search party. Hangovers fall into this category too.
2. Spent time occurs during the maintenance of daily living. Examples include grooming, dressing, transporting (planes, trains, automobiles, bicycles, or by foot), rest room breaks, and/or time out for a coffee break refresh or daily meal. No matter how good we are at squeezing efficiency out of each day, there is still a certain amount of stuff we have to do.
3. Investment time involves things that pay us back over time. I coach people that they are their number one investment, and as such Investment time decisions always pay off over the long haul. Investments come in a wide variety of forms: professional development, personal development, areas of piqued curiosity or interest, activities tied to top-line revenue creation or below-the-line fiduciary responsibility, passionate pursuits, etc. The key to maximizing investment time is making sure to consistently accumulate knowledge, experience, and wisdom over time.
This category — Investment time — is the differentiator, the single biggest determinant of high performance. People who consistently get more done than others maximize their Investment time. They consciously cut its daily pie slice large — and always at the expense of Wasted and Spent time.
Remember: If one slice gets larger another must get smaller.
4. Cherish time involve life’s special moments. An empty life has only a small slice (or maybe only crumbs) of Cherish pie. A rich life cuts a healthy piece; and cuts it first! Without passion and purpose, we will by default Waste too much hollow time that generates neither fulfillment nor reward.
How time choices drive performance:
Sad performer: Grinds through too much Wasted and Spent time, at the expense of rewards and fulfillment (Investment time and Cherish time). This is “Rut City,” a bad neighborhood.
Low performer: Too much Wasted time and non-converted Spent time with no sense of urgency to cut down on either.
Mediocre performer: No ownership of the four time categories, much less how one affects another. Performs with no need to outperform. I equate this to four equal slices of pie.
Strong but unhappy performer: Invests a lot of time at the expense of Wasted time; but also lacks sufficient Cherish time to be happy and self-motivated with a strong sense of pride and purpose. Cherish time fuels the furnace. All work and no life create wrinkles.
Star performer: Maximizes Investment time and Cherish time, winnows Wasted time down to its absolute minimum, and Spends only what he or she must in order to return to Investment time activity. This combination, of course, produces a life well-lived.
Summary
Every day is a gift, and it’s up to us to decide how to maximize its waking hours.
A key to the behavioral change process for those who aspire to achieve more hinges on the answer to this particular question:
“What do you want to be, a Role Player or an Impact Player?”
If you want to be an Impact Player — a difference-maker — you must pay the price an earn the right to be one, which demands Investment time above the norm of those you compete against.
If you are content being a Role Player, your time choices should consistently produce that performance level and create a positive world of self-propulsion.
Whichever you decide to be — Role Player or Impact Player — perform that way to the very best of your ability.
I’ve heard hundreds tell me they wanted to be an Impact Player but continued to make their same old Role Player’s time decisions. In order to develop you must commit, mentally and behaviorally, and you must have the discipline to sustain the pursuit.
Smart time decisions transform lives and careers. Share these tips with people you care about who aspire to be somebody some day. It’s fun to watch them go.