Me First

The 5 SMART Steps: an overview

In the past few years, I have absolutely shifted my focus from one of time management to one of time investment. Somewhere along the way it became very clear to me that we cannot, and should not, try to ‘manage’ our time.

Apart from anything else, when people talk about time ‘management’ it always seems to be in a negative context: ‘I am so bad at managing my time’, or ‘I need to manage my time better’. More important, however, is the fact that time genuinely cannot be managed. Not in the same way that other things — such as your health, your diet, your team and your thoughts — can be managed. All of these can be ‘managed’ to the extent that they can be planned, organised and controlled (and in this context, certainly time could also be managed if the concept of ‘managed’ ended there). But ‘manage’ also denotes something that can be ‘directed’ or ‘commanded’: your people, for example, can be ‘directed’ by you giving orders to them. Your health can be ‘directed’ by you following a strict diet. Time, on the other hand, cannot be ‘directed’ or ‘commanded’. And this is where the term ‘time management’ falls short: no-one — no matter how smart, savvy, wealthy or stealthy they are — can change time, acquire more time, turn back time, speed up time, or in any other way ‘direct’ or ‘command’ time to do what you want it to do. Time marches on, regardless.

And so, I have shifted my mindset to one of time investment — SMART time investment to be exact. ...