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Chapter 8
Accomplishing more in less time
We have all experienced those days which were full to the brim and
at the same time we have experienced days when a few time consuming
tasks have taken up all our time. Why is it that on some days we can
do so much while on other days we seem to do practically nothing
though we were busy the whole day?
In order to provide an answer to this question, I would like to give
you a small illustration. You have been to the beach, haven’t you?
There you might have seen kids building sand castles with sand. You
can only build a sand castle with sand of course, but I hope you
have seen those kids at work. What they do is that they dig up sand
with their spades and fill up their pails with sand. Then they turn
over the pails and hey presto they have the base of the castle which
can then be shaped.
No, we are not concerned with building castles in the sand or in
Spain or wherever. We are concerned about those pails which the kids
use to build their castles. If you have such a pail with you, you
can understand what I am talking about. Try putting a few small
rocks into the pail. When I say rocks I mean rocks probably the size
of medium sized cabbages. The most you can put into the pail would
be three or four and even these would stick out into the air.
The pail is full isn’t it? It is full of rocks. But does that mean
that it is really full. Now get some pebbles probably the size of
table tennis balls and see whether there is room for a couple of the
in the pail. Definitely four or five of the pebbles can slip in to
the spaces between the rocks. Is the pail full now? Yes it is full
of rocks and pebbles. Now if you will oblige me, see if you can get
some glass marbles or beads. Slide them into the pail. You don’t
have to try too hard; they will find their own paths.
If you think that the pail is full now, think again. Just wait till
you get some sand and pour it into the pail. You will be amazed at
the speed with which it trickles in. And we are not done yet. You
are not going to believe this but the pail will actually accommodate
something more. Try pouring a glass of water into it and you will
find the water disappearing into the depths of the pail. If you
want, you can keep pouring water till the pail brims over. But that
is not our intention.
The purpose of this experiment was to show you that what you thought
to be full could in fact accommodate much more, but of a different
kind of course.
This is exactly what happens to most of us on most of our days. We
take on big tasks. That’s well and good. But we get so occupied with
these Herculean tasks, which may take more than a day to get over
with anyway, that we tend to forget those smaller tasks which may be
just as important. This is where we can understand the importance of
prioritizing. The big things are important, but the small things may
be just as important.
While you are trying to handle those rocks, do not forget those
pebbles, marbles, and grains of sand and drops of water. Some people
have asked me to give specific examples for these materials. So I
would like to take a minute to compare. I believe that things like
saying good morning and greeting others generally are very important
if you are working in an organization. These things I would compare
to the water. Just because you have had a busy day, it doesn’t mean
that you have to be a grouch.
Telephone calls (remember to be brief) I would liken to the sand.
They keep coming all the time. And if you do not answer your
telephone calls people will start thinking you do not work there
anymore. Responding to emails and dispatching bills and payments can
be compared to the marbles Meetings and discussions are the pebbles
and major projects and things like audits and presentations are the
rocks.
There should be time for everything and everything should have it’s
time.
And with this I would like to tell you to please discard the myth of
perfection. It does not exist in this world. Nothing and I mean
nothing is perfect. So, it is not really important that everything
has to be shipshape. As long as it is presentable you don’t have to
lose sweat about a project that you have done. But that does not
mean that your work should be shabby. Make it as presentable as is
possible within the time frame allotted.
And in order to accomplish more within lesser time it’s about time
we took a look at those time savers and that takes us to our next
chapter.
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