Understanding Time
I've mentioned before ("Keeping your eye on
the ball") that in order to arrive at a goal you have to concentrate on the
goal, not the mechanics of how you achieve it. A good example of this is in
punctuality. Some people have developed a habit of always being late for appointments.
They find that time somehow disappears and before they know it, the appointment
time is on top of them. If you are always late for appointments or always miss
trains or busses, here is the solution: keep your eye on the ball. More literally,
keep your mind on the time you are aiming for.
To start with, you have to allow sufficient time to achieve what you need to
do. When you have perfected the technique it becomes possible to compress time.
I know someone who is able to cover a car journey that usually takes at least
an hour in around 20 minutes using this technique and I've performed tasks that
should take at least an hour in half that. Until you have developed this, it’s
no use allowing five minutes to perform tasks that must take at least half an
hour.
Break your tasks up and time each one. For example, when you get up in the morning you probably have some kind of ritual: go to the toilet, shower, get dressed, have breakfast, walk to the station etc. Each task takes a certain time. However, in most cases the total time is not the sum of the parts. If you are someone who is consistently late and the total time adds up to 40 minutes, you may find that even when you allow 50 minutes you are late. If you allow an hour, you will still be late. In fact if you allowed two hours you would probably still be late. It’s not the tasks that take the extra time; it’s the time between the tasks.
In this example, when you get up in the morning keep the time you are aiming
for in your mind as you perform each task. This will ensure that you don't waste
time between the tasks. This is like keeping your eye on the ball. It sometimes
helps to picture yourself in the time and place. For example, if you have to
meet someone at five O'clock at a particular place, you picture yourself arriving
at the place with your watch coming up to five O'clock
There's a related technique. If you need to find a parking place in a crowded
car park then as you drive up to the car park, in your mind you picture a car
leaving a parking space. Similarly, if you are walking to a bus stop you picture
a bus arriving just as you do.
