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It's About Time
Ruth Wong
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Cash strategy also applies to time
In my last column I shared two organizing applications from the book "Rich Dad, Poor Dad," by Robert Kiyosaki and Sharon Lechter.
While the purpose of the book is to teach financial literacy, I found the information of interest to me as a professional organizer.
Here are three time-management applications I gleaned:
1. Don't be a lazy thinker: The authors write that people have an "I can't afford it" mentality instead of a "How can I afford It?" attitude. We can extend that idea to the concept of time. Instead of thinking "I don't have time for that," why not think "How can I MAKE time for that?"
If there's something important that we really want to do, it's often possible to make time. It might require some creative thinking to streamline tasks or eliminate time wasters, but taking time to think and problem solve can make things possible!
2. Realize the interconnectedness of your minutes and hours: In the book's CASHFLOW game, which is like a sophisticated version of Monopoly, each player keeps a running income statement and balance sheet.
One thing that becomes clear is how every financial transaction we make, large or small, affects our monthly cash flow and bottom line. Likewise, all of our daily actions affect our overall life.
How we spend our time today determines where we are tomorrow, next month and five years from now. If we slack off today, we'll be overwhelmed tomorrow. The opposite is true, too: If we push ourselves to be extra-productive today, tomorrow can be less hectic.
Before I go on a trip, I am like a human tornado, making sure that the house is picked up and vacuumed, all the clothes washed and the bills paid. It's exhausting, but I know that it will be easier to resume life when I return.
What we do or don't do today has a direct impact on tomorrow.
3. Make your time work for you: The authors say that most people are busy working for money but don't know how to make money work for them. I think the same is true for time, which we need to make work for us. Here are some ways:
» Begin a task as soon as possible. Time will be on our side.
» Give others as much lead time as possible. When we do that, they can get started to do their part, and everyone isn't as rushed at the end.
» Invest time in getting organized. Time spent getting rid of clutter, clearing your desk, purging your files and planning your day and week will reap more time.
Let's put together a string of meaningful days, weeks, months and years so we can have meaningful lives!
See you in two weeks.
"It's About Time," by
Ruth Wong, owner of Organization Plus, runs the fourth Friday of each month. Contact her at "It's About Time," care of the Honolulu Star-Bulletin, 7 Waterfront Plaza, Suite 210, Honolulu 96813; or e-mail
features@starbulletin.com