The Gin and Tonic Perspective on Time Management
by David Kaisar
My friends and clients know the importance I put upon the PERSPECTIVE we operate from. How do you see a thing, what is the metaphor, what is the story you make up? This is always much more important that the actual situation itself. Some of the common metaphors in time management include working on the 1> Big Rocks first (scheduling to make sure your most important tasks get time);2> Eat The Frog (do your biggest, most unpleasant tasks first, so that they are done, and your day can only get better!); and 3> the ever present Discipline. All well and good, if a bit dreary.
Elizabeth Williams at the BizMarketer has a much more festive metaphor: Time Management as a Gin & Tonic.
your calendar should look like a great gin and tonic. Start with ice cubes, your strategic priorities, but not too many. Then add a generous amount of gin, which is what you actually do (planning, selling, etc.). Next put in your slice of lemon which represents the stuff you have to do (budgets, mandatory meetings) and finally add just the right amount of tonic water, which is all your other stuff like email, reading, conference calls. Too much of any of it makes a nasty drink but in balance it should make you happier. I coach my team to use the colour coding in Outlook so they can easily see whether their week looks like a great gin and tonic.
This is a summary (actually pulled from a comment at Harvard Business Review), read the full post, the summary doesn’t do it justice. This is a lot nicer than Eat The Frog…
Dave Kaisar trained at the Coaches Training Institute and certified by the International Coaching Federation. He has worked with dozens of clients to achieve remarkable results, including revenue growth, clearer strategic direction, enhanced leadership, and promotions to positions of greater responsibility. Dave has 20 years of corporate and academic experience and has worked in Finance, Marketing and Project Management. He holds a Doctorate in Linguistics from the University of Chicago, a Masters in Russian from the University of Arizona, and a Bachelors in Finance from Georgetown University. His website is Dark Matter Consulting
– is a deeply personal issue that everyone decides for himself. Sometimes the price is high, sometimes low. But this is not very important for life. Life is an interesting thing. And the price on Viagra – too.
