Maximizing Your Return on Invested TIME
Many years ago, a business coach and mentor I knew named Gerry Fusco introduced me to a phrase he invented. Return on invested time (ROIT).
As business owners and leaders, we know about ROI, ROE, EBITDA, SDE, etc. But have you ever spent any waking hours measuring ROIT?
We make plans, build budgets, measure KPIs, and do many other quantitative things to assess business performance yet we seldom ask about the time we spend and the return on THAT! However, time is the one thing that can be the most valuable commodity you manage.
Or does time manage you? There are so many related questions to ask ourselves.
Qualitative Assessment
I mentioned quantitative assessment measures. What about qualitative ones? I’d argue that ROIT is both quantitative and qualitative.
It’s the qualitative aspects of ROIT that give us the right blend and harmony in our search for work/life rhythm.
In my last article, I challenged us to revisit our thoughts about time. I said time is the ONE THING we all share. Each and every one of us is blessed with 86,400 seconds every day. How we choose to use that time makes all the difference in the world.
It’s the key difference between becoming a multi-millionaire or the next entrepreneur barely making it.
Choices about time can pay big dividends. So that brings us back to ROIT.
For all of the time on your calendar, how do you choose the best opportunities to spend time? And to what events, people, or things, do you give time?
Once time gets scheduled, how do evaluate the benefit of having spent that time?
Here are some options
First, decide whether time spent advances any part of your master plan. It’s likely answering those 300 emails at 8:00 AM does NOT!
It has been said (in many ways) that we should focus on working toward our “big rocks” first. Those big things we’re trying to move and make progress against often get set aside because they are big.
We fool ourselves into thinking that clearing away a thousand little things buys us time to do the big things. That mindset is exactly 180 degrees upside down.
Next, a failure to delegate keeps us bound up and distracted. The myth that “I can do it better myself” has kept many good people down. No, Teaching a team to do the little things can free you up for bigger things. Yes, you have to invest some time to do that teaching, but the ROIT will pay off in big ways.
Too many founders live in the mindset of “only I know what we’re really trying to do here.” If that’s actually true, SHAME ON YOU! Why have you not shared that with a team? Why hasn’t your crew learned what your idea of success is about?
Lastly, elevate your idea about the real value of your time. If you think too little of the time in your day, no one else will think more of it.
Work to eliminate any kind of limiting belief about how you spend time. Things like ‘it’s no big deal, I can do it tomorrow.’ Reframe everything you ever thought or felt about time in the day.
Time is precious. Value it. Use it wisely.
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