We’re sure you’ve heard of the old adage “time is money” and stumbled upon loads of time tracking tools, articles and posts to manage your valuable time, but if by some weird vortex you haven’t, here are just a few to set the stage: Remember The Milk, RescueTime, Pomodoro apps, Forbes, Fast Company.
For the hundreds of thousands of fancy gadgets and intricate articles out there, the one thing these services or “expert opinions” can’t do is tell you what the best most valuable use of YOUR time is. We don’t know how you feel about that, but as a leader, knowing your personal value of time is The (yes, with a capital ‘T”) most crucial element to managing the chaos and chasing that elusive “balance” we all seek. Anyone else out there feelin’ us?
So of course we did what we do, and started researching this topic (shocker!). We read the books. We analyzed what felt like every tool on the market. And most illuminating, we talked to others around us – clients, fellow leaders and small business owners like ourselves to see how we might solve this predicament for our team and others.
We’ve got good news and bad news for you all. Which do you want first!? Ok ok, we’ll start with the bad. Just as we hypothesized, there is no one-size-fits-all solution or mathematical equation that cracks the code. Nor should there be, there are just too many inputs and personal values that have to feed into that equation.
But don’t forget – there is good news! While there may be no magical equation, there is a process, and if you know anything about us – it’s that we’re all about process. It takes some facilitation, a few frameworks and a chunk of energy, but if you’re willing to dig deep and 1. reveal how you’re spending time now, 2. write down your vision for the future, 3. be conscious about what keeps you up at night, and 4. be real in defining your feasibility between near-term & long-term actions… there is an answer in sight! We learned that when you can literally see your goals, wants and needs (both personal and professional) all mapped holistically in front of you, you can prioritize your time and determine what each action is worth.
We’ve gone through this process with numerous clients and for ourselves too many times to count at this point and we have to say, the results are somewhat magical. At the end of the day, who doesn’t want to go from too many thoughts bouncing around in their head making you restless and unfocused to feeling powerful and fueled? Yeah, you can count us in for the later! Because guess what – spending quality time on you now will save you infinite wasted time in the future.
Applying this process to PinPoint has been a cosmic shift to us both personally and professionally. It has taught us how to clearly identify when something is worth outsourcing versus tackling ourselves. It has uncovered operational milestones specific to our business, such as intentional triggers to grow our team. And in full transparency, it uncovered just how much we love time spent collaborating with our brilliant Collective, making our clients’ visions come to life, eating donuts and cuddling our cats.
For anyone out there interested, we created a cheat sheet (or 4 sheets) to get you rolling on figuring out your highest, most valuable use of time. Here’s a link to dig in. We want to hear how it goes, what you learn, what surprises you or what frightens you – besides clowns of course,… because clowns. And whenever you’re ready, let’s grab a coffee.