The title of this newsletter is a quote from business leader and author, Stephen Covey. Covey makes an excellent point, redundantly, about keeping focused on and doing the important things in your life and business. With so many distractions to lead us off the main path and down side trails, it is no wonder that many of us get trapped and overwhelmed in the time chaos of life.

I frequently hear from people in business that time management, effective use of time and getting things done on time are top challenges. Ben Franklin told us, “ Time Is Money” and in the context of slow vs. fast in business, timing is everything. Ben made a strong and valid point about the importance of taking action as quickly as possible since time waits for no man or woman.

Managing time is just about impossible. With the exception of “falling back’’ and “springing ahead” for daylight saving time adjustment, controlling time cannot be done. We can keep careful time logs of everything we do, but they don’t create any more time. We can go to time management classes to help the organization of our days. But, no matter what we do to better understand the concept of time, the simple truth is there will never be enough of it!

To keep the main thing the main thing in your personal and business life, you need to answer this question; how much time do I have left?

When you have an answer to that question, then the priorities will begin to overshadow the list of nagging trivial time tasks that keep you fretting minute by minute. Keeping the main thing the main thing becomes easier when you understand that time is not hours, days or weeks. Time is your life span and what you choose to be in the remainder of it.

Viewing the concept of time from the perspective of your life span adds urgency to select what is important. Once you have defined “the main thing”, identification of the non-important things becomes easy. It’s easy because, put simply, the non- important is everything else.

I don’t know about you, but I choose to let others do everything else, because in my time frame, I’ll be keeping the main thing the main thing.

Making time to plan can help you grow your business!! This is just one of the eight strategies I can teach you to achieve that goal. Would you like to know more? click here

"Enthusiasm is the great hill climber." -- Elbert Hubbard

"An unhurried sense of time is in itself a form of wealth." -- Bonnie Friedman

"Always forgive your enemies; nothing annoys them so much." -- Oscar Wilde

I have been a time junkie since the second grade when I started wearing a wristwatch. This summer, the watch began to lose its importance. Since I am surrounded by computer clocks, car clocks, wall clocks and cell phone clocks, in a moment of recklessness, I quit wearing it.

As a result of being bare wristed, I have noticed that all of that wristwatch watching over four decades created a strong internal sense of what time it is- often accurate to the minute.

My internal clock gets confused however, whenever my daughters or wife say to me, “ I’ll be ready in just a minute.”

Thanks for reading. Please forward this newsletter to anyone that you think might enjoy it. The subscriber list continues to grow thanks to your efforts.

Newsletter topic ideas and comments are always welcome. Send me an e-note.

Life is short, ride hard.

Doug

I also write a weekly electronic newsletter for Professional Horsemen. If you are interested in the business world of horsemen, or have friends in the horse business,take a peek. I am spurring others on to help me promote this newsletter.