Carving Out Time: Time Management for Managers and Business Leaders
Thu, February 01, 2001
CIO — Have you seen the ad for the cell phone service that touts the ability to roll your unused minutes to the next month? Wow! I’d like to be able to do that for the minutes in my day. Time is our most valuable resource these days. And there seems to be less of it each time I look. The growing demands on CIOs’ time leave them wondering, When do I have time to lead? Days are filled with a multiplicity of activities, all of them seemingly important and urgent. Where is the time to think? Where is the time to build relationships with my peers? How do I stay on top of all my projects? Yet if I don’t find the time to lead, I won’t endure as a CIO.
And then, of course, there are these other just as important questions: Where is the time for my personal development? What about time for my family? This is not intended to be a Time Management 101 treatise. But having struggled with many of these issues during the course of my own career, I know there are some things you can do to improve the situation if you have the will and the discipline to do them.
There are some behaviors, such as perfectionism and procrastination, that are real time killers. Do you try to do everything yourself in the belief that no one can do it better? Do you find it difficult to finish a task? This is the perfectionist in you. Try selective perfectionism as an antidote. Some tasks are really important, but others just need to get done. Learn to apply the "Theory of Good Enough" to these tasks. Get them done to the 90 percent level. Less than perfect can still be excellent. Delegate them to others. Use those tasks as training vehicles for those with less experience.
Do you put off decisions? Do you avoid certain activities and do only those things you like or feel comfortable with? Are you a chronic latecomer? Procrastination is the name of this game. The energy and time used to avoid or delay decisions is wasted, never to be reclaimed. I know how risky a CIO’s decision feels in the uncertain world we live in. But it is important to keep your perspective. These are not life or death decisions. No one decision, regardless of how flawed, will destroy you. But constant review and analysis—the hallmarks of indecision—could be even more detrimental to your career.
