Earlier this week, I had a call with one of my executive clients. He was so thrilled that he’s finally getting a new Executive Assistant (EA). It had been a year since his last one. He’s a really busy man. Lots of responsibilities and travel on his plate. The last thing he needs is to add menial tasks to his to do list.
So now that he’s got someone onboarding, I asked him: If all goes well with this person, how much time do you think it’s actually going to free up in your day?”
“I would suspect, if all things go well, it will take several hours a week off of my plate” he said.
I wasn’t done.
“The reason I ask is because I get the feeling that you just have a default, which is ‘I work X hours a week.’ When you regain your executive assistant, you’ll just moved the pieces around and continue to work the same number of hours.”
This is what we all do, whether it’s with our time or our things.
Think about the last time you went traveling. If all you could take was a carry on suitcase, did you make it work? And what about when the airline didn’t charge you extra for a checked in bag? All of a sudden you’re excited because you can whip out that 27″ suitcase.
Before you know it, those 27 inches can barely fit everything you want to take.
If we’re going to be intentional about our time and our space, we can’t go to the default. We have to think about what we truly want.
More time at work vs. more time at the gym?
More time at work vs. more time with loved ones?
More time at work vs. more time for yourself?
Don’t trust yourself to make the best decision. You have to craft it in advance so you don’t get sucked into the temptation of the moment.
What’s your vision for your time?
How would you best like to spend it?
What’s missing right now that you just wish you had more time for?
I get it. We don’t all get an EA to take things off our plate. But we can all have a version of that with technology, virtual assistants, or more delegation.
How much time back would you like to have? What are you going to do about it?
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