I know it’s wise to have financial investment goals. That’s drilled in at a pretty early age. I believe it’s equally important to have time investment goals. Somehow that lesson didn’t sink in until recently when I had one of those Oprah “Aha!” moments.

I’d heard the question a thousand times, “How do you invest your time?” It’s always seemed like a valuable question, but one I’d never pondered too deeply.

Then one day this simple question hit me as truly profound. I suddenly saw time as this valuable commodity; a limited natural resource. One that cannot be expanded and so must be wisely invested and preciously guarded.

This led me to create a new weekly ritual–a time success review. I’ve found it to be simple and profound. And goes like this.

First, I set a goal for how I want to invest my time. I keep the buckets pretty big. And I think about it in terms of percentages, including both my personal and professional time investments.
1. Creating and refining my vision. (20%)
2. Building relationships. (40%)
3. Tasks/getting it done. (40%)

Next, I make it a practice to review my calendar each Sunday and look at how well I hit my goal. I look for where I made great progress, felt energized, inspired and maximized my time. I also see where I wasted time, procrastinated, allowed distractions to pull me off course. I ask myself what I’d do again knowing what my time investment actually produced.

Sometimes I like what I see. Other times I cringe that I invested in areas where there was no return. (That’s when I move into daily review mode). Either way, I learn and move forward with new insights. I then look at the week ahead and apply what I’ve learned. I make adjustments to ensure I’m investing wisely. And I recommit to hitting my goals next week.

This week I’m feeling extremely good about how I invested my time. I hit my goal. And I clearly see that the time I’ve spent visioning and building relationships has yielded focus, insights and happiness that will make me even more effective this week.

It’s true that sometimes you have to slow down to go faster. And so I highly encourage you create your own weekly success review. See what more you can learn about yourself. It’s all good!

Expect the best,
Maryanne