Manage

verb: to succeed in doing or dealing with something, especially something difficult; to be responsible for controlling or organising someone or something, especially a business or employees

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Manage is a strange one. To manage is to make do, to do the best you can, to struggle on. To manage is also to achieve something difficult, often against the odds: “I managed to make my deadline this week”, for example. But to manage means to organize as well, to ensure everything’s running smoothly, whether you manage a business, or something far more interesting…

Truthfully, almost anything can be managed. Time is precious. Time is finite. To waste time is to waste life. Conversely, effective time-management can save precious minutes, hours, days, or even years of your life. But how do we manage a force of nature which is utterly beyond our control?

The answer, as with most things, is a simple one: it’s not time we manage. It’s ourselves. We make ourselves use the time available as efficiently as possible. Now, I’m sure you already know that and try to not spend more time than necessary on things you find less than enjoyable. But most people stop there, never considering broader applications of managing time…

How often have you said “there isn’t enough time”? Truthfully – and it may not be easy to accept – there is time, it’s just been spent on other things. A number of these things are important and well worth doing, like sleeping for example. One could argue that without sufficient sleep the task in question could not be performed to a satisfactory standard, but that doesn’t change the fact that the time was there and it was spent on something else. Now, I’m not suggesting that sleep is where you should look to save time (in fact I’d advise against it: sleep’s important). What I am saying is that everything you do takes time, even things you’re not consciously aware you do, including deciding what to do or how best to go about it. So where is the obvious place to start trying to save time? What do we do that costs time but has little to no value?

Procrastination is the thief of time. Instead of worrying about how, when or if you’re going to do something, why not just… do it? It’s done, then. Simple. And you’ve saved all that precious time you would have spent thinking about it. Let’s use an often lauded lifestyle change as an example…

The scientific consensus is that eating breakfast and doing (at least) some light exercise every day is extremely good for you. Despite this, not everyone has any desire to eat breakfast or exercise and that is entirely their prerogative. However, a great many people claim they would prefer to eat breakfast, exercise, and generally have a healthier lifestyle, but say they can’t as they don’t have time. The thing is, if they actually started doing it they’d save all the time they spend telling themselves “I really should make more of an effort” every time the subject comes up! Granted, that might not be quite as much time as preparing and eating breakfast and doing a little exercise takes, but the difference will be far less than they realize….

Self-awareness is essential for self-management and, by extension, time-management. Not a morning person? Prepare breakfast the night before. Don’t have much of an appetite first thing? Two birds, one stone: exercise, then eat. Can’t get up in time for that? Go to bed earlier. Can’t get to sleep that early? Flip the whole thing on its head! Eat the prepared breakfast/brunch a little later when you can stomach it, then exercise in the afternoon or evening. When things are scheduled, you’re already in front of the game. You won’t waste time deciding when (or if) you’re going to do something. And when something becomes part of your routine, you save even more time and energy by not thinking about it at all. All management is the same, because you’re only really managing yourself. Finances? You have something that’s become so routine that you don’t even realise what you spend on it, whether it’s beer, coffee, lunch, lottery tickets, trading cards, whatever. There’s something you’re choosing to spend money on that is no longer a conscious choice. When you identify it, you’re free to choose differently, if you so desire. People management? Try to keep them in a good mood, make them feel appreciated and make what you want them to do as easy as possible. You’re just creating the same situation that makes you happy to go above and beyond for someone.

You already knew most of this. It can just be a little difficult to make out amongst everyone else’s noise sometimes. And sometimes the truth hurts, so maybe a little pain-management? Or even self-preservation? Ignorance is bliss, after all. Unfortunately, you can’t be selective on self-awareness – not because there’s anything wrong in that – it just doesn’t work. You’d end up unsure of things that are advantageous to know, and peripherally aware of things you’d prefer to keep buried. It has to be all or nothing, or you’ll just end up with an unbalanced mind. I’m sure you’d manage to cope for a while, but better to just make your choice – without thinking too much!

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