Studying the Stars Shows the Importance of Time Management Skills

If you struggle with the motivation to get started on a good organizational regimen, just look skyward about 370 miles. That is where the Hubble Space Telescope orbits, circling Earth once every 97 minutes.

Back in the early 1990’s, the misalignment by Hubble engineers of one mirror’s lens by 1/50th of a human hair ended up costing taxpayers $8,000,000 for repairs. If one microscopic calibration overlooked by a trained expert comes with that kind of price tag, imagine how much more likely comparable mistakes become when the information is in the hands of a disorganized manager or administrator!

The scale may be very different, but in these challenging times, how much could a missed appointment or an hour spent hunting for crucial information cost you? It is easy to get distracted by the flood of issues that seem to come at you from all sides. It can feel exciting to be able to “fight fires” all day. But do you really believe that is as good a use of your time as prioritizing tasks, formalizing your time management strategies, or attending a time management training course?

There are no real payoffs for a disorganized manager or business owner. Just finding a misplaced document or an appointment in one’s calendar can feel like a major accomplishment to such an individual, but such tiny victories should be the exception rather than the rule. Small investments of time and attention can provide major savings.

Knowing exactly where important items of information and material have been stored, so they can help you increase rather than decrease your daily output, may be the most productive business task you undertake.

Instead of investing in “fire fighting” equipment, how about creating an effective “fire prevention system”?