The Power of Time

“The two most powerful warriors are patience and time.” – Leo Tolstoy

Time is indeed a great asset to people. Last week I was introduced to the Time Index from my friends at GiANT Worldwide – which is pretty much about scaling leadership in life, in teams and organisations. I really enjoyed the leverage that comes from this High Tech/High Touch experience and believe that when added to my own IP there is a way to grow and become a leader worth following.

The five elements of the Time Index are:

1. People – The kind of community/tribe you belong to.
2. Place – Where and how you live.
3. Purpose – What you most desire to be doing with your time and talent.
4. Physical – Your health and well being.
5. Provision – Financial security and stability.

What the Time Index is designed to do is help you make sense of your reality and focus on the future. If you think about it, making sure these five areas are on point will make a big difference to the next decade. Perhaps the biggest difference you have ever seen.

How to make sense of it is to score yourself out of one hundred in each area and average the five responses. This gives you one number as a percentage of your overall Time Index and a clear sense of what is working out well and what is more of a challenge right now.

These focus areas will help you do three things really well right now:

1. Evaluate your current reality with focus and honesty.
2. Order the five areas in YOUR best order.
3. Plan the next 1/5/10 years using these focus areas of life.

• When you evaluate you are given the gift of reflection and lessons learnt.
• And when you order you are challenged to prioritise.
• When you plan you are setting yourself up for future victory.

As we move closer to wrapping up 2020, my life and leadership order would be:

1. Purpose – Knowing what I am doing matters and makes a difference.
2. Provision – Being responsible to support my family, invest confidently and give generously.
3. People – Maintaining and deepening the memories with my family, friends, and tribe.
4. Physical – Keeping my body, mind and soul fit for purpose for as long as possible.
5. Place – Where I live, what I see and of course several good local pool halls.

And that’s just it, the order matters to you, right now. It matters more that you than anyone else. But use the order to order your world. Use the order to create a clarity that forces you to DO something purposeful with the next decade. Time really is invested rather than spent. It really is the most precious unrenewable resource we have available to us.

So, what would your order be if you were as intentional as possible over the next decade? Try and list it out then consider what immediate next steps you could take to shape your life and leadership around these priorities.

1. ____________________________________
2. ____________________________________
3. ____________________________________
4. ____________________________________
5. ____________________________________

Just this can change the game for you, right now.

Perhaps like Leo Tolstoy, you can make time and patience your warriors, your champions.

As always hope you are all well and Merry Christmas to you and yours. Enjoy this time with your loved ones and spread cheer.

Photo Credit: Photo by Sabba Linga from Pexels