What Now Before Then?
I chuckle to myself at the irony when I see gym-goers drive their cars up and down aisles in the parking lot. They’re looking to win the lottery to be as close as possible to the doors. Though, travel two aisles over and there are spots aplenty. Getting fit seems to start only through gym doors, but not leading up to them.
I love the gym because it’s a setting where you see the gamut of those who work hard, those who go just to go, those who make excuses about not having time, etc. There’s a lot to absorb at the gym, and lots of great lessons from observation.
When it comes to achieving greater goals, consistency is absolutely key – true for building a startup and true for being fit. Few transactional decisions and actions achieve long-term objectives. Worthwhile objectives are achieved through journeys. It’s this very reason that time management, then, becomes the tactical execution of consistency – to balance priorities.
But if we stop for a moment and think about Day 0, Day 1, Day n, we realize there are gaps between tasks. These gaps, then, are prime opportunities to lead us from each task to the next. If we were to fill these gaps, perhaps they help us achieve an objective faster, or perhaps these opportunistic gaps allow us to achieve greater results.
Opportunities that fill in the gaps can be learning a new skill from reading a book, meeting a sales savant, or maybe an opportunity to do more stretches in the gym.
Back to a gym example! The other day, I went to the gym when it opened – 5AM. However, the person opening the gym was late, so there was a quiet group gathering outside the gym. Folks were just standing there waiting and staring at their phones. Here, gym-goers are presented with an opportunity to take a few minutes and stretch. They could have spent the time outside getting ready for the time inside when the doors opened. Instead, people stood there doing nothing, and when they entered the gym, the started to stretch.
Realize the subtle opportunities we are all presented with in our day-to-day. What’s the objective? What are you trying to achieve? Where are the shortcuts that counter what we’re actually trying to do.
Before then, what can you do now?