Don’t settle for success: make a difference
– strive for SIGNIFICANCE.
Although time management courses can be wonderfully helpful, there’s one
piece of advice that’s normally given that is absolutely vital to ignore.
It’s the part that goes something like this: "Always make the best use of
your time. As you drive, listen to motivational tapes. Always have some work
in your briefcase to which you can turn if a plane is delayed or a meeting
postponed."
Ignore this! If you are lucky enough to have a few seconds when a phone
is not demanding to be answered or a moment when someone is not knocking on
your office door asking you to ‘spare a minute’, then nurture that brief
episode. If you’re in an airport lounge, don’t feel under pressure to get
straight on your mobile or to fish some papers out of your briefcase. Resist
the need to look busy. Instead, buy yourself a drink, find a quiet corner,
and enjoy the glorious luxury of NOT making the ‘best’ use of time. Just
think.
The sheer lack of ‘thinking time’ – time to smell the roses, to
strategise, to let our visions and dreams crystallize, to consider our real
priorities – is one of the reasons why many of us – and so many businesses -
get stuck in a rut. And why, at the start of most time management courses,
at least 5 per cent of the delegates ring up to say they are too busy to
make it.
Don’t settle for success: make a difference
– strive for SIGNIFICANCE.
A US businessman was at the pier of a small coastal Mexican fishing
village when a small boat with just one fisherman docked. Inside the boat
were several large yellow—fin tuna. The American complimented the Mexican on
the quality of his fish and asked how long it took to catch them.
The Mexican replied, ‘Only a little while, senor’ The American asked why
he didn’t stay out longer and catch more fish. The Mexican said that he had
enough to supply his family’s immediate needs.
The American then asked, ‘But what do you do with the rest of your time?’
The fisherman said, ‘I play with my children, take siesta with my wife,
Alaria, stroll into the village each evening where I sip wine and play
guitar with my amigos. I have a full and busy life, senor.’
The American smiled, ‘I am a Harvard MBA —that’s a degree in business
studies — I could help you. You should spend more time fishing and with the
proceeds buy a bigger boat, with the proceeds from the bigger boat you could
buy several boats, eventually you would have a fleet. Then instead of
selling your catch to a middleman you would sell directly to the processor
eventually opening your own cannery. You would control the product,
processing and distribution.’
‘You would, of course, need to leave this small coastal fishing village
and move to Mexico City, then Los Angeles, and eventually New York City
where you would run your expanding enterprise.’
The Mexican fisherman asked, ‘But, senor, how long will all this take?’
The American replied, ‘Fifteen to twenty years.’
‘But what then, senor?’
The American laughed, ‘That’s the best part. When the time is right you
sell your stock to the public and become very rich. You would make
millions.’
‘Millions, senor? But then what?’
‘Then you would retire, move to a small coastal fishing village, where
you could sleep late, fish a little, play with your kids, take siesta with
your wife, Maria, and stroll to the village in the evenings where you could
sip wine and play your guitar with your amigos.’
With just the hint of a twinkle in his eye, the fisherman said, ‘Senor —
are these business degrees hard to get?’
