DISCERNING THE VALUE OF TIME!

A common time management tactic is to put a value on your time--like the billing rate  professionals typically use.  One reason is that it helps to see time as having value--so it can be evaluated and managed effectively. Putting a value on time helps bring a clarity about certain tasks, whether they're high-value or low-value activities.

Fundamentally, high-value or high-payoff (HIPO) tasks are often characterized by the following:

• They require a pro-active, conscious decision to do because they can easily be "crowded out" by more urgent, low-payoff (LOPO) tasks.
• They often require an environment free from distractions, or private time. A willingness to pull back from mundane routines to work smart, not hard.
• Because they are sometimes difficult, uncomfortable, or easy to put off, it helps to give yourself a reward for doing them.
• They often require the development of new skills or at least honing existing ones.
• They require self-discipline, intensity and commitment.
• They require a long-term focus and they move you toward your goals.
• They often require preparation and planning.

Low-value or low-payoff tasks (LOPOs), on the other hand, look more like this:

• They are often urgent, but they can become HIPOs if ignored or dumped, in some cases. Most of the time someone needs to do them unless they can be safely eliminated.
• They often offer little payoff in terms of reaching your major goals and mission.
• They can expand easily, taking more time, and proving Parkinson's Law which says "work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion."
• Executives focused on LOPOs are often oblivious to the value of time.
• They can be popular and pleasant to do.
• They are often done, or done in a certain way, because of tradition and a "that's the way we've always done things" culture in a business.
• They can be deceptive, because they keep you busy but don't make you effective.

However, through an on-going coaching and accountability process with O'Hara Business Strategies and over time, a business owner's ability to discern the value of time is enhanced and the client learns to discriminate between high-value and low-value tasks. As they focus more time and energy on leadership, profits and strategic business-development matters, their profits soar as well. By doing the right type of work, they learn to work smarter, not harder.