A New Way of Looking at Time Management
If you’re at all like me, most of the strategies and approaches you’ve learned to try and manage your time more effectively haven’t really worked. This is likely because, as with anything, it is easy to overlook the real issue, which is almost always surprisingly simple. In my experience, time management boils down to one simple factor: How well I know myself and how badly I want to achieve certain objectives or goals in my life. If you follow my thinking on this, you just may notice that it can be quite effortless to drastically increase your productivity, which sets the stage for a much higher level of success.
In this sense, I have been pretty much following the role model of one of my first great acupuncture mentors, Lonny Jarrett. It always astonished me how Lonny was able to see a high volume of patients in his practice and have the time to write 2 very deep and voluminous books on Chinese medicine. He told me that he wrote most of his second book, which is about 900 pages, while he was seeing 3 patients an hour during his clinical hours. Now I see that the only real difference between Lonny and most people is his extreme clarity around what he wants. Because of this, he sets healthy boundaries and he doesn’t waste time.
As I practice developing this kind of clarity and intensity, I have noticed my own productivity level skyrocketing. I haven’t done any fancy tricks or taken any short cuts. It’s just that I’m really clear and intentional about the way I spend my time. So, I encourage you to think of time management as a practice of developing extreme clarity and intentionality in what you really want out of your life. As your clarity increases, your tolerance for inner or outer distractions decreases. You consciously put yourself in the position of only doing that which you are best at and you pretty much delegate the rest to others. That is the ideal and it is possible. The first step is always becoming very clear about who you really are and what your true purpose is in the work you are doing.
Another way of looking at this is that time doesn’t really exist. So what are we trying to manage?? It is really a matter of being fully present to this very moment, again and again. If you are distracted from this moment, then you are wasting time. So, the ultimate practice here is training yourself to be fully present to each moment of your life. When you do this, there is a clarity and sanctity in each moment. Whatever you are doing is what you are meant to be doing because it is intentional and conscious.
There is a lot more I could say about this, which I will in the next group coaching series starting on July 9th. If you’d like to get further training on time management, building confidence, and marketing your practice, then this next 4 hour teleseminar series is for you. Sign up at http://www.buildyourdreampractice.net/coaching.htm
Kevin Doherty, L.Ac.
