We all want to manage our time better, right? Harry explores tools that can help you today and offers advice for long-term results.
Big Rocks and Little Time
We all want to manage our time better, right? Harry explores tools that can help you today and offers advice for long-term results.
- By Harry Brelsford
- August 01, 1999
Let’s face it, we all wish we had more time for the things
we want and need to do. But since the hours we have in
a day/week/year are limited, managing the time you do
have is of utmost importance.
In preparation for this column, I poked around and sought
out how my co-workers manage their time. The idea was
that by doing a little research, I’d save my own time
in preparing this column. A stroll around the floor of
my office revealed that different people have different
approaches. Many people in my company use the tried and
true approaches: DayTimers, Microsoft Outlook, and 3Com
PalmPilots. Some people integrate their Outlook schedules
to synchronize with their PalmPilots. But, by and large,
there weren’t any amazing breakthroughs to write home
about. That is, until Dotti told me the story of Big Rocks.
Big Rocks
The story goes like this: A wise man gathers his pupils
and fills a jar with large rocks. He asks his students
if the jar is full, to which they reply affirmatively.
The wise man then proceeds to pour small pebbles into
the jar, which settle between the gaps created by the
stones. Asked again whether the jar is full, the students’
answers now vary. The wise man then proceeds to pour sand
into the jar, followed by water. Only then is the jar
completely full. The wise man asks the students how this
applies to time management. Bewildered, they reply that
it doesn’t. Ah, but it does, he explains. If you don’t
start with the big rocks first, you’ll never fit them
in. Translated, if you don’t complete your big tasks first,
you’ll never “fit them in,” or complete them. You can
fit the smaller tasks in around the big ones, so start
with the big ones. There’s another lesson learned in time
management.
Techie Time Management Tools
Allow me a few minutes to share a couple of time management
tools being used by MCPs today to help them fit more into
each day. The approaches include:
- Microsoft Small Business Tools—This
add-on to the newly released Microsoft Small Business
Server 4.5 allows you to publish your Microsoft Outlook
Calendar to a Web page that you can access via the Internet
and a standard Web browser. This capability addresses
one severe weakness in the use of the Calendar in Microsoft
Outlook: keeping it current. As a working MCSE, I’m
more often out of the office than in, so updating my
Calendar is trying at times. But by publishing my schedule
to a Web page, I can update my Calendar from an Internet
café (where I take my coffee breaks, MCSE-style!). This
tool greatly benefits my co-workers, boss, and ultimately
my clients because it helps me proactively engage in
better time management.
- DSL, baby! I initially ordered
the latest thing in high-speed connectivity, DSL, for
my home in order to assist with my book writing efforts.
My intent was to make better use of the Internet for
research purposes (with a little play thrown in as well).
What I found was that the high-speed DSL line allows
me to get more done in a shorter length of time—an entirely
acceptable definition of time management if I ever heard
of one. Here’s how DSL is working for me. First, I can
send and receive large file downloads from my publishers
more rapidly. Second, the Virtual Private Network (VPN)
connection to my company’s LAN is now much more practical.
So now I can attach to the company network and update
my time and billing activity daily (something I massively
rebelled against during the old modem dial-up days!).
Just ask Carol in bookkeeping if I’m now managing my
time better as a result of my high-speed DSL connection.
Forward Thinking
Finally, I will consider a longer-term view on time management
that’s applicable for MCPs. Essentially, on a daily basis
I try to undertake one task or activity that will yield
long-term benefits. That is, by investing some of my time
today in something that might not make the most sense
immediately, I hope to save time or “leverage up” in the
long term. Here’s what I mean.
A few of my friends have that darn “day-trader” mentality
that’s sweeping the land. These are the people who will
perform a task or activity only if it results in an immediate
payoff. If the payoff isn’t there, they bail out, feeling
they’re the wiser for it. To them, a billable hour today
is worth far more than performing some activity that may
or may not result in many billable hours in the future.
I, on the other hand, walk to the beat of a different
drummer. I need look no further than my experience in
writing computer books. There’s no question that I’ve
compromised a few billable hours today to write my books.
Those hours are lost forever. However, I’m betting that
my “investment” today will more than make up for those
lost hours tomorrow. I believe that being a widely published
MCSE-type will allow me to bill more consulting hours
in the future with far less effort, because both soliciting
and performing consulting work will be easier for me.
Likewise, I’m hoping that I can ascend the consulting
food chain and enjoy higher quality clients—in other words,
clients who pay within 30 days and provide me referrals,
the easiest and most efficient marketing of all! So, while
I must tolerate the scorn of the daytrader crowd today
for, in their eyes, wasting time, I take some solace in
my strategy (whether right or wrong) that I’ll make all
of that time up and more in the future. In short, I’ll
catch up and surpass the daytraders down the road. And
isn’t that another form of time management? Invest your
time today in certain endeavors so you’ll have more or
better quality time in the future.
About the Author
Bainbridge Island, Washington author Harry Brelsford is the CEO of NetHealthMon.com, a Small Business Server consulting and networking monitoring firm. He publishes the "Small Business Best Practices" newsletter ([email protected]), and is the author of several IT books, including MCSE Consulting Bible (Hungry Minds) and Small Business Server 2000 Best Practices (Hara Publishing).