Time is Life

Terence Mauri is a speaker, mentor and leadership expert to companies all over the world, from top Fortune 500 companies to fast-growing start-ups. Terence offers his audiences powerful shortcuts and concrete action steps to think and act like a leader in a world of disruption. Here he shares with us the importance of time and time management.

Time is life. There are three numbers that you need to start thinking about today, and this is what I call a wake-up message. It’s very easy in the age of overload to waste time and energy on other people’s agendas, on digital distractions, on focusing on the wrong tasks or committing to a job that doesn’t fulfil you or being in a relationship that doesn’t work.

Here are three numbers to remember and share with your colleagues:

480

You’ve probably guessed what that is, that’s 480 minutes in an 8 hour day. So, when you’re at work or working at home, what are you doing with your 480 minutes? Are you treating it like money? What I mean by that is time debt and credit.

Time debt is when you just spend time, you never plan, you never prevent, you never anticipate, you never think ahead, you never stop and slow down and renew yourself.

Time credit is the opposite, you plan, you think, you take a productive pause, you slow down, you manage people’s expectations.

I would like you to stop thinking about time and start thinking about managing people’s expectations because that’s often one of the biggest actions to take away.

Time management is not about managing time, it’s about managing your mindset and other people’s expectations. So, remember, 480 minutes in an 8 hour day – are you spending it or investing it?

The second number is a bit scary…

960

That’s 960 months, which equates to 80 years of age. I know what you’re thinking, and when I actually did the maths for myself I calculated that I only have 500 months left! My purpose here is not to depress you, one could say this is what you call a ‘Prozac moment’, but seriously, I want you to think about time as life.

960 months is 80 years – what are you going to do with that block of time?

The final number is…

29,200

Which is 960 months in days. Now, I hope these numbers have created a sense of urgency. My goal is certainly not to prompt you all to resign now and go on a worldwide holiday for the rest of your life! It’s really to make it crystal clear that it’s very easy in the age of overload and the age of distraction to deplete our energy on stuff that doesn’t matter, to waste time on other people’s agendas, or to simply not be clear about the purpose or focus that really matters.

Click here or email our dedicated team at enquiries@raisethebar.co.uk for more information on Terence and his availability.