The great entrepreneur Henry Ford was once asked why, when problems arose, he typically visited his executives in their offices rather than calling them to his. “To save time,” Ford explained. “I’ve found that I can leave the other fellow’s office a lot quicker than I can get him to leave mine.”
It’s funny, but also says a lot about how great leaders such as Ford manage time. Ford didn’t believe in sitting back and allowing events to happen to him. He was proactive and took action.
To me, this one anecdote sums up the essence of effective time management.Action is the antidote to all time management problems. I would so far as to say that the concept of managing time is a myth.
Time as a resource is unbiased. All of us have the same amount of time regardless of our qualifications, our positions, our financial conditions or our religious proclivities. So what do highly effective people do differently with their 24 hours than the rest?
Steve Chandler answers this and many more questions related to managing time in our cover story this month. A best-selling author and a world-famous personal success coach, Chandler introduces the concept of ‘time warrior’ to explain how we can all deal with [or defeat] some of our most pressing problems—procrastination, people-pleasing, self-doubt, over-commitment, broken promises and chaos.
You will find that Chandler’s concepts hit you hard because he tells you the truth—plain and clear. But there’s also an inexplicable compassion to his plain speaking. That’s because what he tells comes straight from the heart, out of genuine concern for the reader.
The cover story reminded me of the former American President John F. Kennedy’s wise words: “We must use time as a tool, not as a crutch.” If you put the approach outlined by Chandler into practice, you’ll never again use time as a crutch.