Welcome to 2023; you are off to a New Year for your business and life.
I am amazed at the number of products flooding my social media platforms and emails about time management. One recent ad stated that for just a small monthly fee, they guarantee to add 15 plus hours to your week. This leads to the question of time posed by the network Magazine editor George Madiou this month.
He asks whether we can control time. This question takes me back to my career as a school administrator and a discussion with our district’s attorney about a “thorny” legal question.
When I would describe certain situations to our attorneys about a legal issue, the standard responses were either “Well, Yes and No” or” Well, It depends.”This was, in most cases, not a wrong response. There are lots of factors that influence responses and choices of action. The same is true of controlling time.
Factually the answer is no.
We all have 60 minutes in an hour and know that the total hours in a day are 24, so when you multiply 60 by 24, the answer is 1440. We all have 10080 minutes in a week,43800 in a month, and 526,600 in a year. The number of minutes isn’t changing no matter how much you spend on that ‘Course’ and is guaranteed to add time. In fact, if this number were to change, we all would have more significant problems to consider.
The Yes part of the response is that we all have control over Our choice of how to use our minutes.
Our choice of how we use time as network marketers is where we can be more productive and more profitable in selling and sharing the opportunity, as they say in My Wife Becki’s company, to build, nurture and maintain a team. Does this mean you have total control over these 526,600 minutes? The answer is, of course, no. You have to sleep, maintain your health, and have time for those you value and maybe even another job you currently have while you grow your business.
The second part of the lawyer’s response comes into play when maximizing available time, “Well, it depends.” You have lots of possibilities to strategically maximize your available time. Simon and Garfunkle (Millennials and Z’s just Google It) said it well in their 1966 song by Simon & Garfunkel – A Hazy Shade Of Winter Lyrics“Time, time, time See what’s become of me While I looked around for my possibilities.”
You have choices and possibilities as a network marketer to strategically maximize the time and minutes you have available. The key is strategically making choices to enhance your time to meet all the competing demands on your time and build your business and team. One way to strategically maximize your time is by following a guide, The Three P’S. The Three P’s provide three questions that are vital to your success.
“When you know your Why, You know your way.”
Leadership author Michael Hyatt
1 What is your purpose, your Why?
What activity in your network, marketing business, or life gives you the most joy, excitement, and fulfillment? What activities can you be involved in and not even notice the time go by? Is it the joy of completing a program in your business, the smile on your customer’s face, or the joy of being at a softball game, cheering for your child, or date night? When we work for our Purpose or Why we feel satisfied and fulfilled. Simon Sinek, in his bestseller, Find Your Why provides a simple activity to find and clarify your Why. I use this activity to review their purpose with clients periodically.
Here it is below;
I do this (Activity ) ____________________________
So That (benefit ) _____________________________
Please note this is not about sales and sharing the opportunity Goals. Knowing your Why guides your processes to strategically maximize your time and take the next step to reach your priorities and plans
2 What are your priorities?
Priorities are essential parts of your life.
What are the 5-6 priorities in your life?
Take a moment to list out the things that are non-negotiable essentials that will define your life.
Here are some examples
1 Being the best church member /volunteer member I can be.
2 Being the best parent I can be
3 Being the best spouse and significant other I can be.
4 Being the best advocate and most knowledgeable leader of my product line and brand
5 Being the best seller, I can be
6 Being the best and most supportive opportunity sharer
Clarity on your purpose and priorities gives a network marketer a direction and a way to hold one self-accountable
3, What is your plan of action?
Planning is the final step to putting together your purpose and prioritizing strategically to maximize your time use. This is vitally important because nothing happens to move your network marketing business and other parts of your life forward without a plan of action. It is like being all fired up about one’s business, setting up your priorities for movement, and not going anywhere.
An excellent way to visualize this is driving on ice. You are hitting the gas, knowing you want to move forward, yet you are just spinning your wheels and going nowhere.
A plan is developing a strategy, a way to move forward. Considering the situation above, the best strategy or plan is to let off the gas pedal and back up to get traction, dig out the snow, or put down a rug or sand to provide traction.
A good strategy or plan provides traction to accomplish your Why and meet your priorities.
Below is a strategy or a plan I use to coach clients. Please note I wrote it out; it could also be done digitally. The crucial part is to commemorate the week’s strategy in some way. This practice increases commitment and accountability.
Every Sunday, Set the week up in time blocks to act on my purpose and priorities…
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Dr. Hackett is a redirected high school teacher, counselor and administrator, university administrator, and professor teaching doctoral-level leadership classes.
John is currently C.E.O. of Making Connections, a leadership consulting company.
He is an accomplished and experienced DISC consultant coach, trainer, writer, and leader certified by the Maxwell Leadership and the Direct Selling World Alliance.
John has trained, coached, and consulted with school districts, universities, social service agencies, churches, direct sales organizations, police departments, and law firms.
He is a growing, learning entrepreneur in speaking, coaching, and training, passionate about equipping leaders to develop other leaders to serve.
John is a monthly contributor to the Network Marketing Magazine and has written over 140 weekly leadership articles on LinkedIn @drjohnhackett.
He has been married for 45 years to Becki, a 43-year entrepreneur, and has three daughters and two grandsons.
John is also a long-distance bicyclist, an open water swimmer, and an aqua bike triathlon competitor
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