Time Power!

In these first few weeks of ChrisNotes, I will introduce you to the most important books I have stubled upon in my quest to make myself successful.  Right behind Greatest Salesman is Time Power by Charles Hobbs. 

Hobbs was the expert that led the Day-Timers time management workshops back in the 1980s.  He provides essential definitions:

1. Time Management is the act of controlling events.
2. In managing our lives, we need congruity which is, "balance, harmony and appropriateness among the events in your life."
3. To get things done amid our hectic schedules requries "a concentration of power which is the ability to focus on and accomplish your most vital priorities."

He then lays out the logical structure for organizing your life.  It starts with your highest beliefs (Unifying Principles) and moves into practical examples and questions that help you create a framework for writing down and working on your goals.  The beauty is how Hobbs helps you integrate your unifying principles into lifetime goals and ultimately into a prioritized daily action list.

Ben Franklin taught us in his Autobiography to break big projects into smaller, manageable tasks.  Hobbs shows us how to do this by separating the process into two parts- first you consider your long range goals and decide on what part you can focus on today.  Then, after you make your list, you ask yourself another set of questions that helps you prioritize your to-do list.  This is significant because it is a different brain exercise to identify what you need to do than to decide which is most important and which to work on first. 

The other concept that I LOVE is the Theory of Accessability: If a goal is continually at hand and visible, the chance of you achieving it increases.   I believe that you can write down some goals, stash them in a drawer, pull them out a year later, and you will find your subconscious has worked to achieve many of them.  Given this, think what you can do if you have your well-written goals where you can read and revise them on a regular basis.  The book suggests that you set aside 15 minutes of solitude for planning every day.  This item has been on my to-do lists for the last 25 years.  On most days, I am able to check it off as done.