occur in the week ahead; 15 percent on those prob lems for the months ahead; 3 percent on those prob lems three to six months ahead; and 2 percent of our thinking time to those occurring one year from now. We ought to establish a control system for check ing the completion of our activities. We can use a dated notebook, or a write-in calendar, or a check off sheet. We should not rob ourselves of the satis faction of knowing when a job is completed. We need to keep to our schedule, or else re-shuffle it to make it work. But remember this: we need to run the sched ule. Don’t let it run us! Don’t make the mistake that one man did after he watched his wife make breakfast. He pointed out to her that in her inefficiency she had made 52 moves and had taken 26 minutes. Now the breakfast is being made with 30 moves and in 15 minutes— and he is making the breakfast! In your daily schedule, don’t tackle something too strenuous. Don't fill up every nook and cranny. Be a realist— but make it so standard that it be comes a habit. We then don’t have to ask ourselves, “ Shall I shave first or have my devotions first?” Habit will make insignificant daily decisions routine. Again let me quote Peter Drucker. He says, “ Those executives who really get things don’t start with their work. They start with their time.” It is most important for us to allow time, to make time for initiating, rather than simply reacting— to the telephone, to the mail, to conferences, to people, to obligations— and spending so little time in creativity and initiating the work I ought to be doing. We need to allow time for this creative initiation, rather than always reacting to the immediate. Let me. suggest six areas of time investment which will pay dividends in making time work for us. First and foremost is planning. We have to know where our work is now, where it ought to be, and where it is going. I remember some time ago when I had the privilege of serving as the chairman of the board of a Christian college in Indiana. During the course of this tenure of office, we hired a group of educational consultants to come in for a three-year period. In our contract, these men agreed to come on the campus one day a month for 36 months. I was to be on the campus that same day with the president of the college, several members of the administra tion and several of the faculty members. The first day together was an exciting one. These educational consultants said to us, “ Look, we are going to have an exercise today. We are going to do three things. We are going to find out where we have been— where we are now— and where we are going.” It was a thrilling day as we examined these three things. I came back a month later as these consultants were again on the campus and they said, “ Today we are going to engage in an exercise. We are going to 22
do three things. We are going to find out where we have been, where we are now, and where we are going.” It was still exciting. The same thing happened the third, the fourth, the fifth . . . for six months . . . the same exercise. After about six or seven months, I said, “ Look, I know we have signed the contract and we can’t back out of it, but I wish we could. Here we are pay ing hundreds of dollars a month and each time we are asked these three simple questions, ‘where have we been, where are we now and where are we go ing?’ ” However, after about a year and a half of this, it became a tremendously rewarding experience, for one day each month for 36 months we went through that same exercise. I learned something from that which I have never forgotten— the importance of this planning technique. It makes us think through to a logical conclusion; it helps us choose our alternatives; it keeps us on top of our work. A second time investment factor is organizing, or delegating responsibilities, so that each job gets done well. Get other people to work, to release your self for more executive responsibility. Don’t do what others can do equally as well as you. If anybody can do what you are doing as well as you can, as a leader and executive you ought not to be doing that. A third time investment area is coordinating. An executive is a coordinator, helping people to work together. A fourth element is inspiration. This is a mys terious mixing of ingredients such as courage, opti mism and dedication. It makes others want to do their best. A fifth element in time investment and manage ment is communicating, keeping everyone informed of the progress, the problems and the decisions. A sixth element is deciding. No executive can escape making decisions. Indecision in a time of emergency destroys whatever capacity we may pos sess for leadership. Don’t be afraid of making a mistake. It is not wrong to make a mistake. Just don’t make the same mistake twice! Acquire the habit of decisiveness by deciding small matters promptly. Don’t fret over them— decide. After you have con sidered the various alternatives open to you, make your choice firmly and abandon the other alterna tives. Act upon your decision and forget what might have happened if you had made another choice, other wise you can have a lot of anxious moments and sleepless nights. Time is God’s great gift to you— time to work, time to serve, time to love, time to laugh, but as with any gift, the value that you get out of the gift is up to you— so redeem the time and enrich your llfe’ KB Ted Engstrom is associated with World Vision Interna tional. THE KING’S BUSINESS
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