Time: Friend and Foe?

[Iva Embley]

As far as I can remember, I perceived time as one of the most precious gifts we get in this life. Especially so because I never had much free time... Being a competitive figure skater, I was putting in 60 hour 'work' weeks since I was six years old... skating, school, more skating, ballet, conditioning training, school prep, etc., etc.... play time was scarce at best, nonexistent in the top skating season... quite often I felt like I was stealing time for reading or doing something 'non-productive'...

Later I've learned that the 'non-productive' moments are actually essential for high performance... not only because of their restorative qualities, but because they incite breakthroughs, insight flashes, and other discoveries... Has it ever happened to you that you were weeding your garden, washing dishes, walking through a parking lot, thinking about nothing, and all of a sudden a solution to your biggest problem popped up?

Anyhow, some philosophers and psychologists claim that we would not achieve much if it weren’t for time limitations. Indeed, we all know that a well placed deadline can do wonders - it focuses us, kicks in our creative powers, and motivates us to finish a job much faster than we ever thought possible, so that we can soar on the wings of accomplishment and mastery...

But then there are times when we just cannot do it all, no matter how much we want to be the super-humans who effortlessly juggle multiple work deadlines, techno-troubles, our child's unmissable track & field meets, elderly parent's needs, let alone the ubiquitous information overload... in these moments the lack of time stresses us, forces us to make tough choices and leaves us behind, spent...

It's an ongoing balancing act, sometimes more joyful than other times...

As JVNP is a group of accomplished people, I am very curious how you feel about the various time challenges… What do you enjoy? What's the most difficult for you? How do you handle it?

Please share! Thank you

Wishing you the best of times,

[Mike Merz]

As JVNP is a group of accomplished people, I am very curious how you feel about the various time challenges… What do you enjoy? What's the most difficult for you? How do you handle it?

Great question, Iva ..

Coming from a long career in Retail Food Management, goal and objective setting, individual and team progress updates, and deadlines were a part of the everyday routine, so incorporating them into my business was second nature.

Many of the problems I ran into then I run into now ... making sure the work I'm doling out to others is done on time and to my specifications, without trying to do too much of it myself (if I'm able).

I could most certainly be a better delegator.

Also ... like most of us, I'm assuming, I'm also a procrastinator at times, so a kick in the butt serves me well from time to time.

Anyone else?

Cheers,

Mike Sr