Time Management

Life is not all crying and moaning,
but rather consists of a sum of work and good humor
to face the vicissitudes of everyday life.
A good laugh heals, scares away ghosts, scares away death.

Work, work, work.
Inspiration doesn't exist, it's about sitting down every day.

Juan Filloy, writer (105 years old)

Many of us live almost tormented by a lack of time. But is "lack of time" the real problem?

The clock and the compass.

Decisions are easier to make when the problem is reduced to a question of “good” and “bad.” But for most of us, the issue isn't about “good” and “bad,” but rather about “good” and “best.” Often the enemy of the best is the good.

He clock It represents commitments, appointments, schedules, goals, activities: what we do with time and how we manage it.
The compass It represents our vision, our values, our principles, our mission, our moral conscience, our direction: everything we feel is important and the way we direct our lives.

The power to create Quality of Life lies within us, in our ability to develop and utilize our inner compass so that we can act with integrity when making choices.

The way we see (our paradigm) guides what we do (our attitudes and behaviors); and what we do guides the results we obtain in our lives. Therefore, if we want to generate a significant change in results, it's not enough to alter attitudes and behaviors, methods, or techniques: we must modify the basic paradigms from which they arise. When we try to change behavior or methods without modifying the paradigm, the latter ultimately defeats the change. This is why attempts to "implant" training or quality in organizations are unsuccessful. They cannot be implemented; they must be developed. They arise naturally from the paradigms that create them. The same is true for people: we cannot generate significant changes in our lives until we identify the mental maps and assumptions that dominate us.
Changing a planning tool or method doesn't alter the results achieved in organizations or in one's own life. As Einstein said: "We cannot solve the momentous problems we face with the same level of thinking that created them."

Management operates within the paradigm. Leadership creates new paradigms. Management operates within the system. Leadership influences the system. While management is problem-oriented, leadership is opportunity-oriented. We manage "things" but we lead people.
To put first things first in our lives, it's essential to prioritize leadership over administration. Am I doing the right things? rather than, "Am I doing things the right way?"
It's about moving from time management to life leadership.

Responsibility: Ability to choose our Response

Between stimulus and response there is a space, within which are found four unique characteristics that distinguish us from the animal world: Self-knowledge, Consciousness, Independent Will and Creative Imagination.

Self-knowledge

	It is the ability to step back from ourselves and examine our thinking, our motives, our history, our vocations, our actions, our habits and tendencies.
	“No one removes a thorn if they don’t know where it is.” R. Tagore.
	Pausing to see enables us to hear the voice of conscience and understand our paradigms or mental maps. In this way, we are able to broaden the gap between stimulus and response.
	Knowing the difference between good and better, and acting in accordance with one's mission and principles, makes a significant contribution to self-esteem and personal integrity.
	“We are conscious when what we are going to do controls what we are doing.”, G, Herbert Mead
	It empowers us to possess other knowledge. By knowing how to listen to our own hearts, we can listen to the hearts of others. We can step out of our own center and seek to understand.
	We can stop weighing everything others do based on how it affects our time and our world.
	We can, beyond the narcissistic stage, value difference and be willing to be influenced.
	We can feel humility and respect for others, and also see their weaknesses as opportunities to help, love, and bring about meaningful change.

Self-knowledge involves deep personal honesty and is born from answering the following questions:

	Do I really want to do it?
	Am I willing to pay the price?
	Do I have enough strength to achieve it?
	Do I accept responsibility for my own growth?
	Do I remain mediocre when I could achieve excellence?
	Do I blame and accuse others for my own ineptitude in setting and achieving goals?
	Do I allow the good to take the place of the best?

Awareness

	It connects us with the wisdom of the ages and the wisdom of the heart. It gives us insight into our talents and our personal mission.
	We educate our conscience by reading and meditating on wisdom literature.
	By stepping back and learning from our own experience, by carefully observing the experience of others, by taking the time to slow down and listen to the deep inner voice, and by responding to that voice.
	We value working together to discover true north, and have the humility to recognize that our understanding may be limited by our script.
	We find great satisfaction in creating a shared vision and values that empower us to achieve first things first together.
	Only when we listen to the voice of our conscience can we achieve the peace we seek.

We learn to widen the gap between stimulus and response when, in moments of tension, we answer the following questions:

1. What am I doing? or What is happening now? What am I feeling? What am I thinking?
2. What do I want now? Or what don't I want?
3. What do I do now that is preventing me from getting what I want?
4. Take a deep breath and continue…

The most decisive moment of our lives is when we make this commitment:

“I will act according to my conscience. From now on, I will not allow any voice—the social mirror, the scripts, my own rationalizations—to sound louder in my ears than the voice of conscience. And, whatever the consequences, I will let myself be guided by it.”

Creative Imagination

	It is the ability to foresee a future state. The faculty that allows us to see ourselves and others differently and better than we currently are.
	It's about creating long-, medium-, and short-term goals that help translate the Vision into reality.
	Journaling enables you to observe and improve, daily, how you develop and use your four basic human characteristics. Writing is fixed in memory. Writing significantly increases our power to understand how the Law of the Harvest works ("what you sow you will reap") and influence activities related to our life mission.
	Visualize possibilities and write them down. Dreams create creative imagination. You can use your imagination to create in your mind what you hope to create in your life.
	Instead of watching yourself react as you normally would, contemplate how you would act based on the principles you are convinced will yield the desired Quality of Life results.
	We can live by our imagination, rather than by our memory.
	The best way to predict your future is to create it. Our problem is deciding to use the wisdom we already possess.

Independent Will

	It's our capacity for action. It gives us the power to go beyond paradigms and act based on principles rather than reacting to circumstances and moods.
	It is the strength to act according to our inner imperatives.
	We are not the product of our past, but of our choices. We are "responsible," that is, capable of responding.
	Between stimulus and response, there is a space. In that space, we can exercise our freedom to choose a response. In response lies human growth and freedom.
	Our lives are based on the results of our choices. If we blame and accuse others, the environment, or other extrinsic factors, we choose to give them the power to dominate us.
	It's your own responsibility to act. If you expect others to act on you, they will act on you. If I don't decide my life, others decide it for me.
	The hardest battles are fought in the silent chambers of one's own soul.
	One of the best ways to strengthen your independent will is to make and keep promises. (Even if they're as simple as not going online until a certain time or getting up five minutes earlier for a week to do a little exercise.)
	By making our promises little by little and keeping them, we increase our strength until our ability to act is more powerful than any other force acting upon us.
	Small personal promises improve self-confidence.
	No matter how insignificant the goal or the promise, doing so will give us confidence that we will be able to act with integrity when making choices.
	Increasing your awareness of Independent Will will help you develop it.
	One hour a day dedicated to “sharpen the saw” originates the “private victory” that enables the “public victories”.

The Passion of the Vision (Chronos – Kairos – Aion)

There are three ways to understand time:

Chronos: Chronological time. Linear and sequential. Measured by a clock. Fragmented existence. Consumption-oriented and self-centered.

Kairos: Auspicious time. The value of time. The quality of that time. Contribution-oriented and unfocused.

Aion: One age, one life. What we are. Who we are. Holistic, Systemic Perspective.

	We don't invent our mission, we discover it. It's within us, waiting to be discovered (Victor Frankl).
	The "passion of vision” releases the power that connects the “discipline"with its etymological character:"disciple"We become followers of our inner imperatives.
	It's not about self-control, but about surrendering to one's deepest aspirations.
	Instead of focusing on the “control", we do it in the "release".
	Without the passion of vision, discipline amounts to regulation and limitation: self-control, stoicism, the morality of Christianity.
	Motivating impulse behind every decision we make. Creative Tension.
	The key to the “motivation" is the "reason”.
	The inner fire that mobilizes us to be able to say “No” with peace and confidence to activities that distance us from our goal.

Vision

Vision is the image of the desired future (for the person or the organization), when the objectives have been achieved and the mission (purposes) fulfilled. Personal vision comes from within. It is something we desire for its intrinsic value and not for its position in relation to other things. It doesn't matter what the vision is, but what the vision does or achieves. It sounds paradoxical, but the content of the vision isn't important in itself. Vision gives direction and helps set goals. It consists of seeing beyond our current reality. Creating, inventing what doesn't yet exist, becoming what we are not yet.

“Vision” comes from the Latin videre, “to see.” This is significant because the more detailed and visual the image, the more persuasive it will be.

It gives us the ability to live according to our imagination and not our memory.
By focusing on vision, personality weaknesses are eclipsed. Vision and purpose generate personal growth and development.
It is advisable to write it in the present tense, as if it were happening now.

Personal Mission

Mission is the reason for being. Mission answers the questions: What is your life's purpose? Why do you exist? Why do you do what you do? What would you like to be remembered for?
Defines the person's (or organization's) goals, but avoids prescribing means to achieve them.
It should fit on a T-shirt. In other words, it should be a simple, short, and profoundly insightful phrase. The mission should inspire.
The mission statement becomes the constitution, a solid expression of its views and values. It becomes the yardstick by which all other realities of life are measured.
If I have a deep understanding of my center and my purposes, I can review and recommit to them frequently. That's why it's good to memorize them.
The feeling of security originates from within, from centering life on principles, from following the dictates of conscience.

Does what I choose give me the strength to get up early in the morning to go to work?

Four Generations of Time Management.

FIRST GENERATION

ADVANTAGES

DISADVANTAGES

It is based on reminders. It is characterized by writing simple notes and lists of tasks "to do" so as not to forget this or that. It consists of letting yourself go.	If all goes well, by the end of the day you will have completed many of the tasks you noted, and those that were left pending will move to the next day. Members of this generation are flexible with the people who appear along the way.	For this generation, the “important things” are the ones that come first. Relatively little is achieved.
SECOND GENERATION	ADVANTAGES	DISADVANTAGES
It is based on plan and prepareIt is characterized by the use of agendas. It involves setting goals and planning future activities in advance. For this generation, what matters is what is planned as a goal in the agenda.	Goal setting and planning increase performance and results.	Excessive focus on the agenda leads to acting as if others represent "the enemy," "means," or "barriers" to achieving goals.
THIRD GENERATION	ADVANTAGES	DISADVANTAGES
It is based on the planning, prioritization and controlIt is characterized by asking the question: What do I want? It involves clarifying values and priorities.	For this generation, "what's important" is based on values and goals. Focusing on planning and prioritizing significantly increases personal productivity. People take responsibility for results. It provides structure and order to life.	The criticism is that in this generation the power of vision is not being exploited. It can lead you to believe that you are in complete control. Values are clarified, but they are not necessarily consistent with principles. Interdependence is essentially transactional; the parties involved are not transformed. It objectifies people. It focuses on administration, control and individualistic achievement. But control is an illusion.

FOURTH GENERATION

It's based on knowing and doing what's important rather than simply responding to what's urgent. Addiction to the urgent is as dangerous as other addictions: drugs, alcohol, tobacco. It dulls the pain caused by the gap between the compass and the clock. It is based on knowing and recognizing the "primordial thread" and letting that thread become our thread. It is about accepting that Quality of Life is not "me," but "us," that we all live in an interdependent reality, and that as humans, we are a "knot of relationships." Instead of focusing on things and time, this stage focuses on preserving and enhancing relationships and achieving results. Interdependence is transformational; it changes those who are part of it. It changes people, it transforms them. It's a paradigm based on "people" rather than "things." People first, then things. Leadership first, then management. Purpose first, then structure. Vision first, then method.

The next question is, how can I lead my life from a fourth-generation perspective?

Weekly Plan

The weekly approach fosters balance and perspective and provides the context for making effective, moment-to-moment choices, considering what we choose to put first in our lives.

What's the most important thing you could do in each role this week to have the greatest positive impact? Just one or two. You might even have no activities at all in some roles this week, but the important thing is that the activities are based on putting things first.

	It has to be in harmony with the mission.
	It is something that we feel deep down in our being as necessary.
	Use the compass instead of the clock.
	Think about it important and not in what urgent.
	The goal is not to fill the jar to the brim but to ensure that the large stones are inside and that it is not so full that there is no room to accommodate consciously directed change.
	What? \ Why? \ How? This criterion creates a link between the principles, the mission, and the goals. If a goal isn't connected to a deep "why," even if it's good, it's probably not the best. The five Whys are very useful in this case.
	Define Objectives: Are they realistic? Are they challenging? Are they flexible? Are they verifiable?
	The formulation of the objective must include: The precise result(s) to be achieved. The action verb is in the infinitive.
	Writing down your objectives helps clarify them. They should be explicit enough to be understood by others without risk of misinterpretation.
	Make a list of "maybe": Write down all the ideas and see whether or not I incorporate them into the weekly plan. Since it's not a commitment to be made, it doesn't affect my future or jeopardize my integrity.
	Identify which is the 20% of the activities that represent or should represent the 80% of the results.
	Avoid becoming a Lyphophilic. Adepts of the LIFO method: Last In First Out
	Writing in pencil allows us to correct until we are more experienced in developing Action Plans.
	Communicate the Action Plan in advance to those who need to be informed to avoid disruptions.

Daily Plan

It is advisable to perform three tasks daily:

	Remember your goals. “Out of sight, out of mind.”
	Forecasting the day: This involves checking the compass over the clock.
	Prioritize: Check that we are moving in the direction of what is important. Categorize activities according to the quadrant they belong to to verify our fidelity to the program. Identify those tasks that are associated with a schedule and are immutable. It's not so much the quantity of activities that matters, but rather their quality.

Instead of simply managing problems, you focus on finding solutions. By examining your to-do list, you discern opportunities for improvement. You address root causes, ensuring that "next Monday" won't be like this one. You set the stage for significant improvements in the future. Where others see isolated incidents, you see systems.

Assessment

Evaluating gives you the power to turn weeks into an upward spiral of learning and life.

On Sundays, it's a good idea to spend some time answering these questions using the compass as a frame of reference.

	Did I set realistic but interesting goals?
	What goals did I achieve?
	What challenges did I face?
	How did I overcome them?
	What decisions did I make?
	Did I maintain the “First Things First” principle?
	What goals did I not achieve?
	Did the choices I made result in deposits or withdrawals from my Personal Integrity Account?
	Did I spend time on “sharpen the saw” on a daily basis?

One of the most productive ways to eliminate much of the frustration we experience in life is to analyze our expectations.

When we feel frustrated, we can go back to the source of the problem:

	What was the expectation I had that was not met?
	Was that expectation based on true north?
	How can I change it?
	What lessons can I learn that will affect my expectations for the future?

Final Reflection

Every advance implies a break, it implies discarding something, leaving it behind.

Perhaps it's time to let go of what's holding us back and preventing us from contributing as much as we could.

Only if our sense of security comes from our basic integrity with moral conscience and principles, only if we draw our security from our deep inner life, will we be able to do what truly matters.

One of life's most liberating experiences is committing to following your conscience. It's worth a try, even if it's just for a week!

Much of our guilt stems from our social conscience. And it doesn't teach us lessons; it only prevents us from moving forward. To free ourselves, we must analyze our guilt. If it comes from the social mirror, we can dismiss it. If it comes from our conscience, we can confront it, do what's necessary to make amends, and move forward. Whatever our conscience imposes on us, whatever it may be, will never be as painful and exhausting as living with guilt. Life is about learning, and the only true mistake is the one from which we learn nothing.

There is a peace we find when we commit to doing what we know is best, even if it is difficult and provokes opposition.
Inner peace is a function of our deep inner life. It is a joyful living. It is found in the midst of life, not by withdrawing from it.
Contribution and moral conscience help us know where we want to go and which path will lead us there.
Peace is going to sleep at night knowing we made the right choices to prioritize what's important. It's feeling like we put first things first.

* Work prepared by the Eng. Raúl A. Perez Verzini , based on the excellent work of Dr. Stephen R. Covey.