A Farewell to Time Management

For decades there was a focus on Time Management. It was a belief that we could become more productive, and therefore happier, if we could only optimize the use of our limited time. Initial efforts were centered on the process of scheduling. The problem with scheduling people's time (as opposed to a machine's time) is that while it may keep you busy, it doesn't necessarily make you effective.

Personal scheduling gave way to Prioritization in the schools of Time Management. Doing the most important things turns-out to be much more effective than doing the greatest number of things. Thus Prioritization soon lead the way to Goal Setting, Mission Statements, Core Competencies, etc.

It was very effective, very profitable, and fun for a while. After the innovation wore off, 20th century productivity went back to feeling like the same old grind, just a bit more productive - but not enough to take us to the levels we had hoped to achieve.

The question has now become, how can we preserve that "innovation" stage where our efforts were effective, profitable, and fun? It's most easily recognized by feelings associated with Energy. When we're in that kind of state things happen in a tireless and joyful fashion. The issue now facing the 21st Century Active Investor is how can we manage to keep our personal Energy at those levels?

I have been enriched by the opportunity to drive to Snyder for a client. After passing the city of Sweetwater you enter Texas oil country. Here Texans have lived to bring us the Energy from fossil fuels underground that have driven our economy. But on this drive, you won't give oil a thought. What you see is miles and miles of windmills harvesting Energy from the air. If we told our ancestors we could get Energy from just the air they would have considered us mentally unstable; but today it's everywhere on the road to Snyder.

This is a metaphor for 21st Century Personal Energy Management. We don't have to go to great lengths underground to get a limited supply of Energy; it's abundantly available in our environment. The challenge is to harvest it. Windmills reach out their arms to be driven by the air moving in their environment. In a similar fashion we have to create processes that enable us to reach out and catch the Energy moving in our environment.The place to start is to acknowledge what causes our feelings to be high or low. Typically positive or negative perceptions of our environment create high and low feelings of Energy respectively; however each of us have our own Energy attractors.

With this internal guidance system in place, Active Investors can began to recognize those activities, people, and places that either drain or renew their Energy. Our personal Energy supply is both apparent (from our feelings - our internal guidance system) and abundant (from our environment - if we can recognize it). Our 21st Century challenge is now to manage our Energy by knowing how to continually reach out for more.

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Fruitful Decision Making

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If you're not already familiar with the Franklin or Balance Sheet close it's an old sales technique that should be out of favor with today's business decision makers. The story is when Benjamin Franklin had trouble making a decision he would make a written list of all the pros and cons. Doing this would help lead him to the best decision. The gimmick behind it us while there are usually many pros in a sales proposition, a prospect is generally only facing a couple of cons, typically risk and/or affordability. It's a manipulative scheme because it leads a prospect to consider the quantity of items on the pro and con lists as opposed to their importance. One significant risk can easily outweigh a hundred minor advantages.

Like all really great lies, it's appealing because there are truthful elements inside. Putting your thoughts on paper is a powerful method of clarifying thinking. It's use should be encouraged; but with an orientation toward what's important. I'm proposing a modification to the Franklin close we can call the Fruitful close for your personal decisions.

Create a list of what's important to you. This is the really hard part and since it may be time consuming needs to be done in advance. Personally, I started with the Roles I developed from the time management disciplines found in The Seven Habits of Highly Successful People. Later I found a much more useful list. The logic behind its use was if I made my decisions in alignment with the characteristics of the Creator, the results would be in alignment with Creation - a very desirable result. These characteristics are listed in the Bible in Galatians 5:22 as the Fruits of the Holy Spirit. They are: love, joy, peace patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. I've come to see the list as operating from the last item (self-control) backwards to the first as one develops into greater alignment with Creation. With a list of importance established, it's now time to create the Balance Sheet.

In Column One, Titled "Important", write down the elements of your list. Now consider all the alternatives to your decision and make a subsequent column for each with an appropriate label. Assign a weight (I use the numbers 1 to 5) that represents how each alternative might contribute toward each result. There may be no effect in many cases. Large effects should be given higher weights. In the end, one column should outweigh the others.

Test this result. Does it make sense that this alternative really is the most fruitful choice? It may not turn-out that way because something was missed during the first analysis (this is normal). Keep repeating the process. Eventually an alternative emerges that that makes sense and we know why. Now its time to become fruitful.

Self Identity Theft - The Good Samaritan Revisited

The Parable of the Good Samaritan

There was a legal question about exactly who is your neighbor in the Biblical commandment to love your neighbor. The following story was provided as an answer. 

Attacked by thieves, a traveller lay injured on the roadside. Pillars of society passed by on the other side of the road, avoiding having anything to do with another's problems. Then a member of a despised minority saw the victim and stopped to help by bandaging wounds, providing lodging, and paying for future care. The question then asked was, who do you think was the traveler's neighbor?

The Darley-Bates Experiment

Divinity students at a well known seminary were asked to participate in a study. They were told to address a group of freshmen in a nearby building. Some were told to speak on the role of the professional clergy in modern society; and some were asked to speak on the Parable of the Good Samaritan.

As they walked to their appointment, each participant passed a man in obvious need of help. He was slumped over, coughing and groaning. When asked if he needed help, he would say no but appeared otherwise. Would those prepared to speak on The Good Samaritan be more likely to aid this stranger?

The Experimental Results

Studying and speaking about The Good  Samaritan made no significant difference to the seminarian's actions. Those stopping to care for the victim were about the same in each group.

There was another experimental variable. As they left the building some participants were told they were early and to go over anyway. The rest were told they were late and should hurry. This made a difference. Seminary students who believed they were late were less likely to help than those who believed they had extra time. 

A lot of well meaning business advisors recommend that clients add just 1 or 2 more activities to their schedule each day. They point out how the numbers quickly build over time. Active Investment may be a game; but it's not a numbers game. People (our neighbors in biblical terms) come to Business Owners and Professionals every day asking for our help. Our job is to have the time and capability to provide that help. It's more than quality or good customer service, it's the Active Investor's self-identity - a vision of being able to make a living helping our neighbor inspired us into our occupation in the first place. Balance is "being on the road" and yet allowing enough time to truly stop and help.