Protect your schedule using the “Near-Time Far-Time” concept
As an executive, very often your most limited resource is your own time. This concept, which I have personally used for many years, has three great benefits: Helps protect you from filling your schedule with meetings and events that are less than optimal toward meeting your business goals Used in reverse, helps you schedule time with other busy people Used in reverse, helps you secure the best possible people for your future projects This may seem like extraordinary advantages for a time management technique, but it’s true and this is how it works. The underlying concept behind this technique is that people are much more protective of their commitments and schedule in the near-time (the next two or three weeks), than they are of their far-time (out two or three months from now). The reason for this phenomenon is that people generally have a strong mental picture of their short term: Business commitments and work deliverables Longer range projects nearing their delivery dates Problems which have arisen and must be dealt with Unforeseen business opportunities that have seemingly come out of the blue Personal time commitments, such as doctor appointments and kids’ soccer games The uncomfortable feeling that your calendar is so filled with meetings that you will not have time to complete/perform the previously mentioned items For all of these reasons, busy people are very protective of their short-term time because they can mentally calculate their short-term workload. People’s far-time schedule is much less defined. Many business commitments and work deliverables [...]