The Fallacy of Time Management

There is no such “thing” as time. Time is simply a concept. We made it up. Well, the truth is that you and I didn’t make it up. We weren’t invited to that party. However, time is a concept that was indeed, made up.

Have you ever been on an airplane, in the window seat? As you look out the window, you might remember that there were no lines drawn on the earth. This is especially easy to see when you are crossing the ocean. No lines. Time simply doesn’t exist as a thing!

So what? You might be saying to yourself, “This is just semantics; what’s the big deal?” Here it is . . . How can you manage something that doesn’t exist? Therein lies the problem and all the confusion. We talk about Time Management and work ourselves into a frenzy trying to manage something that doesn’t exist.

Actually, what we do is manage ourselves inside of this concept we call “time”. We go about our lives and do our daily activities in a framework of days, hours, minutes. And . . . I know how much time you have. We are not privy to knowing how long we are going to live. So, in that sense, I don’t know how much time you have.

However, for every week you are on this planet, you have 168 hours. That’s how it got made up. Simple arithmetic . . . 24×7=168. No more; no less. It doesn’t matter whether you are male or female; white, black, brown, red, yellow or green; rich or poor; city or country; liberal or conservative. If you are human and live on this planet, you have 168 hours per week.

Again, so what? So this! When you shift your thinking from managing “time” to managing yourself inside of a concept called “time”, you can transform your life. No longer are you saddled with trying to manage this elusive concept. When you stop to think about it, you realize that part of the problem is that you cannot wrap your hands around the idea of managing time. Yet, you are expected to know what everyone is talking about when they mention “Time Management.”

When you manage yourself inside the concept of time, it clears up. You are at choice about what you do, when. In addition, this allows another powerful reason for setting goals. You can now place your goals into a framework of action. You can set and prioritize your goals and then manage yourself (inside the concept of time) to accomplish what you want.

One more thing. This shift in thinking allows you to give up saying some things like, “There’s not enough time.” “I don’t know where the time goes.” “I simply don’t have time.” We all know that feeling. Yet, once you know that you have 168 hours in a week and you can manage yourself inside of that structure, you no longer have to make excuses. Only by choice. You now have the power to choose what you do.

I lied . . . one more thing. This opens you up to one of the more powerful choices you can make. You can say, “No!” You can say “No” to what you don’t want so that you can say “Yes” to what you do want. This will free you up to make the most of your 168 hours.

I’m curious. How will you choose to manage yourself within this ‘concept of time’?