Gini Nelson's Engaging Conflicts

Rajesh Setty is an entrepreneur and investor based in Silicon Valley who also maintains a popular blog called Life Beyond Code. I visit it periodically to catch up on ideas I consider helpful for developing professional and business success (just as I periodically visit Guy Kawasaki’s How to Change the World blog). Rajesh writes directly for technology professionals but the principles apply for all professionals. I came across his article Making the Most of Your Time: Going Beyond To-Do Lists at ChangeThis recently. As he says in his introduction:

Everyone knows that time is the great equalizer in this world. Everyone has a flat twenty-four hours in a day–nothing more and nothing less. Everyone also knows that successful people get a lot more out of those twenty-four hours than average people.

Time management is hard, and it’s a flawed concept. You really can’t manage time. It is finite. What we all know and talk about really is how we can mange ourselves better. So, really, if you want to manage your time better, you have no choice but learn to manage yourself better.

He identifies and discusses 9 things to consider in a short, clearly written article, which I list here (but his article is worth downloading and reading):

1. Execute your current projects flawlessly. ["Think about this question: 'Are your current commitments reasonable and fall in the area of your strengths?'"]
2. Strengthen your personal brand. ["Whether you believe in it or not, whether you like it or not, whether you care for it or not--you have a personal brand.... It is 'who you are' to the world."]
3. Build long-term relationships. ["...you can't trick smart people into believing that you are 'investing' in a relationship with them. So quit trying and start investing."]
4. Increase your capacity to deliver. [Includes these ways: "Work with a great coach or mentor... Fine-tune your accountability structure... Invest in the right tools."]
5. Make a difference to the world.
6. Increase others’ capacity to make a difference.
7. Spend time with friends and family. [Includes this way: "Manage your 'always-connected' devices carefully."]
8. Increase your contribution to multiple networks. [Includes this way: "Make others successful: Your first goal in belonging to a network has to be to make sure that you will do everything reasonable to help others become successful. I am not saying that your personal agenda should disappear, but it should always take a backseat when compared to the needs of other valuable members in the network."]
9. Learning and learning to un-learn. [Includes this way: "Using the web effectively: The web is one place where you can get a lot of help, but you can also get lost for all the wrong reasons."]

You can download a copy of the article by clicking here: change-this-setty-making-the-most-of-your-time.pdf