What Are You Doing With Your Time?

Time is often viewed as the ultimate commodity but is it? Other than our last day on this planet we all have exactly the same minutes in the day as each other. It’s my birthday today and I find myself thinking about what I’m doing with my allotted minutes and whether I’m doing the right things with them.

Iin an interview at NamesCon I passed on a number of things that I do before and after the conference to maximise the use of my time. I have a mental image of it costing me about $100 per hour whether I’m asleep or awake to attend a conference. This means I’d better be very careful with how I allocate my time.

I like to have a mixture of meetings at an event like NamesCon. Some will be with existing partners and clients while others will be with people I’ve never met before and potential relationships. The goal is to have a meaningful conversation with each person and to make the best use of my time.

In the end I averaged 18 scheduled meetings each day and had countless other spontaneous discussions during the evening or walking up and down the lonnnnnggggg hallway. The conference was a huge success for my company, ParkLogic, with many more people coming onto the new Next platform.

This is great for a conference but what about now I’m back home? What do I do with my time and how do I keep a sense of balance?

Over the years, I’ve seen too many people spending incredible amounts of time climbing the ladder of success only to find it’s leaning against the wrong wall. Yes, they are successful in business, but they’ve sacrificed their personal life in their desire to accumulate more, become more significant or gain more power. What a waste…

Like most people, I find that I carve out my week into work days and the weekend. During the work week I typically get to my desk at around 7-7:30am and finish around 7pm for dinner. I always have a break for lunch and never eat my lunch in front of my computer…..my brain just needs a break.

If I’m doing some programming, I’ll often work from 10pm until around 3am. I find that’s a great time to do some real thinking work as the house is quite and there are a lot less interruptions. I’ll say to Roselyn that I need to get in the zone and plough my way through a lot of work. Even if I finish at 3am I’ll typically be at my desk by 8am.

It sounds like I work a lot, but the reality is I find doing what I do a lot of fun. Doing some development work in the small hours of the morning is incredibly relaxing. I don’t work until 3am every night…..normally about once a week max.

I’m generally really protective of my weekends and if I’m working then Roselyn knows there’s a disaster….thank goodness they don’t happen very often. Sunday mornings is often my most favourite time as we make a great breakfast together, listen to some jazz music and do a few word puzzles from the paper. It’s a completely different pace to the rest of my life and forces me to completely slow down for a few hours.

Although I’m another year older and yet I’m reminded what my Grandmother used to tell me, “Michael, you only get old when you think you are.” It’s wise advice and considering the incredible adventures she had traveling the world in her latter years it came from a person of some experience.

So upon reflection…..maybe the key to the best use of my time is to continue doing what I love and to keep on loving what I’m doing. And never forget to journey through life with a mischievous twinkle in your eye and a smile on your face. I think I’ve just been summoned for some birthday celebrations. Cheers!