T I M E M A N A G E M E N T
“There’s right and there’s wrong,” John Wayne as Davy Crock-
ett told us in The Alamo. “You gotta do one or the other. You do
the one, and you’re living. You do the other, and you may be walk-
ing around, but you’re dead as a beaver hat.”
If only life were that simple. But to do the right thing, you have
to know the right thing to do.
Knowing the right thing to do, then, must dwell at the core of
any real time management program.
Your values, your definition of the right way to live, are inside
you. It’s time to get them out so that you can live by them.
Step 1: Create a personal Mission Statement
Most businesses and organizations have one—although the
employees and members may be unaware of it. The mission state-
ment is much more than policies and procedures governing day-to-
day activities (though daily activities should reflect and contribute
to the mission). The mission statement describes what the organi-
zation wants to be and what it wants to accomplish. Ideally, every
member of that organization should contribute to building the
statement and then should work to embody it.
What’s your mission in life? Why are you living? What do you
hope to be and do with your life? What values and assumptions
underlie your core mission?
Spend some time with these questions. Let them dwell in your
subconscious. Come back to them again and again. Be ready
always to change and renew your answers as you grow in experi-
ence and wisdom.
Then you’re ready to move on to a critical second set of questions:
- How will you act on what you believe?
- How will your life reflect your values?
- How can you live to fulfill your mission?