"If you can fill the unforgiving minute…"
“..with sixty seconds worth of distance run, yours is the earth and everything that’s in it, and which is more, you will be a man, my son.”
Kipling is telling us that we only have one chance at time, and once it has passed, it is gone forever. We should always make the most use of our valuable and limited time.
Think about how much work did you achieved on the last day before the Christmas holidays? I bet you got loads done! And it was completely focused. You flew through it and ticked off all your list items. How often does that happen? Almost never!
Why do we not work like this all the time? Imagine how efficient we’d be? How productive? But we don’t. And we don’t because we have so many distractions by meetings, coffees, questions, technology notifications. And we don’t always have tight deadlines.
I have just finished reading ‘Rework’, by the founders of Basecamp, Fried and Heinemeier Hansson, in which they share “when you impose a deadline, you gain clarity.” When restricted by time we somehow seem to be able to prioritise our work and just focus on what’s necessary.
How often do we work on menial tasks that really have little or no impact? And how do we identify the priorities, when everything has become a priority?!
In his book ‘Rapid Response’ my friend and colleague, Glenn Tranter, believes there are four ways to make deadlines work for you.
Schedule your deadlines
Be disciplined
Realistic and achievable chance of delivering the deadline
Treat deadlines like a game – have fun, and reward achievement
There’s the old saying “If you need something done, ask a busy person.” There’s the dog walker who walks six dogs at a time. Add a seventh, and they won’t be phased, they just expand their capacity. There are people like this who we always ask for help because we know that no matter how busy they are, they can make time for us. They always ‘fill the unforgiving minute’.
What will be your commitment to ‘sixty seconds worth of distance run’ today?
