Donald Wetmore looks at time management from the perspective of a horse race; twice the reward does not generally require twice the effort.
Every horse race has a first place winner and a runner-up, second place contender. It is not uncommon for the first place horse to earn twice the prize as the second place finisher. Curiously, the number one horse did not have to run twice as fast or go twice as far as the competition to get twice the money. It only had to be a nose ahead of the competition to reap twice the rewards.
Five suggestions, when applied, can help us to get a “nose ahead.”
- Plan your day
- Overplan your day
- Work with a clean desk and work environment
- Restrict meetings
- Handle paper just once