Nothing Gets Done by Clock Watching

Tick tock tick tock.  Worrying about the clock will not help you get things done any faster.

There are many good strategies you can take towards accomplishing your goals.  You could treat each one like a mini project, strategizing how to manage each step; you could use imagery and visualize success, actively creating a picture of your future self; or you could simply rely on a handy to-do list and just tackle tasks as they come.

No matter the choice, you will notice a common theme in all these methods in that they are based upon giving conscious thought to your goals and figuring out the actions needed to achieve them...
none of them involve sitting around watching a clock as the hands wind around and time slowly passes by, and feeling like you put in a hard days work simply because you showed up an office for eight hours.

This is a simple concept but one many of us struggle with.  This is because the notion of measuring our work against a clock is so ingrained in us.

• We grew up looking for jobs that pay a good hourly rate, were introduced to the punch clock, and learned that the more hours we worked the more we got paid...

• We were exposed to agencies and vendors, or maybe tried freelancing ourselves, and learned about hourly rates and what it means to track billable hours...

• We began filling our homes with consumer good and thinking of purchases in terms of work hours (eg: I must work 17 hours to get enough money to afford those designer jeans)

So why suggest taking our eye off of the clock?  Because life is a journey, not a race.

Life is highlighted by special moments in time and notable milestones, not in counting the minutes that pass in between.  Life is more than just some grains of sand passing through an hour glass.

To be clear, this is not advice on time management.  Time management is no doubt an important discipline that should be finely honed.  But in that sense, the tracking of time is a means of efficiency, not productivity.  Knowing that time moves along regardless of how much you try to "manage" it, a self-made sage keeps their eye on the prize and in reaching a determined goal.

Thus, winning is not determined by how long you can take to reach such goal, it is in the crossing of the finish line that truly matters. Your focus and energy should be on reaching your goals and achieving your dreams, not watching the clock.