Steadfast Finances
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How Much of Your Time is Invested in Things that Don’t Matter?
Leave it to Dilbert’s observational humor to make me rethink how I spend my days.
My intent isn’t to ruin your day by questioning if half of the things you do everyday are worthless, or possibly generate an unwinnable confrontation by questioning your supervisor’s project management skills, but have you ever stopped to consider just how much of your time is spent doing trivial things that may not matter in the long run?
From an efficiency and productivity standpoint, have you ever considered that many of the projects you take on might have zero ROI, or perhaps, have a negative ROI? Could obsessive behaviors towards your hobbies or passions be clouding your judgment? Perhaps you’ve got several projects on your To Do List that are moving, or have moved, into escalation of commitment or sunken cost territory but you just don’t want to realize it?
Regardless if you’re a small business owner, a freelancer, or perhaps a parent trying to free up more time to spend more time with your children, these are important questions to ask yourself on a short term basis to know where you stand.
In the end, most of us want to get the most bang for our buck when it comes to our finances, so why not do the same when it comes to our most precious commodity… time!
8 Comments
Jan 25, 201011:15 pm
When you look at the header on my website you see 9 rocks, each with a label. These represent the 9 most common forms of waste we have in our lives. By far time has got to be one of the biggest ones.
Several years ago I finished reading a business book and realized that not only did I enjoy it but I learned something from it. From that point on I no longer fiction. There are too many business, PF, productivity, history and biography books (to name a few) that are both entertaining and educational.
… and now you can add blogs to the list!
Jan 26, 20101:50 pm
Isn’t “productive” in the eye of the beholder? For instance, I enjoy reading fiction and almost forgot how during a period of extreme “production.” I also didn’t travel, didn’t spend social time with friends and didn’t do a lot of other things. I didn’t actually succeed in a lot of important areas of my life, as well, though I made a little money. Be as wary of being too “productive” as you are of avoidance lest you fall into the trap of the rat racer who keeps running toward the next goal and misses the journey. There is a healthy balance to be found I think.
Jan 26, 20101:52 pm
I almost forgot to add that as a government employee I am very familiar with doing things that don’t matter…ugh.
Jan 26, 20103:52 pm
“Isn’t “productive” in the eye of the beholder?”
Absolutely! Which is why I didn’t get too preachy and specifically say…
* What you should be doing
* How you should be spending your time
* How much progress should you making
My goal was simply to pose the question and let the reader interpret it as they saw fit since everyone has their own metrics.
Ironically, someone actually tweeted I should have expanded this idea more and should have done more with it, but I like that I cut it short, which allows each reader to take in the message and build upon the idea they see fit.
Hopefully, everyone will interpret it that way. :)
Jan 27, 20104:34 pm
I’ll play the devil’s advocate here as far as the Dilbert cartoon goes – it’s funny his boss let it slip that Dilbert was spending a large portion of his time doing things that don’t matter. Problem is the things that don’t matter today were usually the the number one priorities yesterday.
I agree with you 100% about the time value of money at home. I need some clones like Michael Keaton had in “Multiplicity”.
« Maybe a Little Obsessive Compulsive Behavior is a Good Thing Next Post
Consumption Equals Jobs »
2:36 pm
This is a more serious issue than most of us realize. We all have the same amount of time to live our lives, but most of us waste the time we have while others are able to leverage even tight schedules to gain maximum return on the time they have.
From what I’ve read and seen, the truly successful in the world (those who are truly self made) spend the majority of their productive time on the projects that will put the most money in their pockets. Canfield, Hansen and Hewitt discuss this extensively in their book, The Power of Focus. Tim Ferriss also covers it heavily. The successful master this focus and usually early in life.
The rest of us “major in the minors”, engage in “creative avoidance” or what ever label we can come up with to avoid working on the most productive projects we can. TV, sports, maintenance, or just plain water cooler gossip are often the tools we use.
A close friend of mine, and one of the most productive salesmen I’ve ever known used to say, “do what you do best, and let others do the rest”. He was a master delegator, which seemed not only to make him more productive, but also gave him more free time to enjoy himself. Once again, he was able to leverage time and resources. I’m still working on it!