June 11, 2025 l Business Mirror
We are so preoccupied with time management as it seems that we always lack the time to do all that we need to accomplish. But I realized that even nowadays, even with automation and proliferation of new technologies, we still lack time. Why?
The reality is even if we manage our time properly, we can never add time to our day. We still have the same 24 hours, 1440 minutes and 86,400 seconds in a day. Even with proper prioritizing, we never add time, it only moves us to another item in our to-do list.
According to a New York Times bestselling author and Hall of Fame Speaker Rory Vaden, we should multiply our time which he defines as “..to invest time in activities today that will yield more time tomorrow.” If we focus on tasks that generate more time in the future, we effectively multiply our available time. For him, there is no such thing as time management, only self-management.
As I analyze it, I was quite convinced that his theory is true. I am a fan of the author Stephen Covey who introduced us to the two-dimensional perspective of time—is it urgent or is it important or both? This is the basis for setting our priorities. However, this does not add available time. It only moves us to the next to-do list instead of creating more time.
There is a paradigm shift in the theory of Rory Vaden which is three-dimensional in which he adds significance. It is not just a matter of what is urgent or important today, but what can you do today to make tomorrow better. And he created a focus funnel—eliminate, automate, delegate and if we have to do it now, we should concentrate on it, otherwise procrastinate or place it in a holding pattern and goes through again the focus funnel, until we know what to do—to eliminate, automate or delegate?
For instance, I am one person who found it difficult to say no to invitations and other activities when I was younger. But time makes us wiser, and I learn that if I say yes to something, I am saying no to another activity or even rest periods where I could have spent otherwise my valuable time. That is learning to eliminate and making a not-to-do list is something new for me because just like anybody we are used to making a to-do list.
Using automation as another time multiplier can go a long way in creating more time in the future. The hindrance to automation is first of all, the amount to be invested in technology infrastructure and second, the time to train people. This may seem a huge investment in money and time but just like any investment, the return can be reaped later not only in terms of ROI (return on investment) but also in ROTI (return on time invested), the latter is the term used by Rory Vaden. For instance, gone are the days when we prepared audit working papers in hard copies or using excel or spreadsheet to prepare working papers for review. Now we have automated ways of reviewing in real time using technology tools where collaboration and responses are also done in real time. It may require more investment in money and time, but the returns can be a hundredfold or even thousandfold. Some automation requires a little more in time and money while others really require huge investments and may depend on one’s capacity.
On delegation, I know some people who would rather work on the tasks themselves rather than delegate. Their reason is that they know the tasks better and work would be more efficient and faster if they do it themselves. Moreover, they do not have time to teach or orient other people to do it. However, if they spare some time to teach others their tasks and later delegate, they will have more time tomorrow or in the future to do those things which they need to do that will create a better tomorrow.
As Henry David Thoreau, my favorite philosopher since high school, says
“The true price of anything you do is the amount of time you exchange for it.”
***The views expressed herein are her own and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of her office as well as FINEX. For comments, email wimiranda@inventormiranda.com. Photo is from Pinterest.