Are you surrounded by Time Liabilities? I define a Time Liability as:

a) anything that consumes time unnecessarily or

b) anything that causes you to spend time in activities that are less profitable than your most profitable activity.

If your filing system causes you to spend extra time doing $9 per hour
clerical work, trying to find that important document you misplaced,
then you have a Time Liability. If your workspace is so uncomfortable
that you have to spend time at a chiropractor every month to correct
your spine alignment problems, you definitely have a Time Liability!

Over a year ago I was working with a business owner who was in severe
time debt. He was working in the ballpark of 90 to 100 hours per week,
and both his business and family were suffering. We started by
calculating his per-hour worth.  When doing his most profitable
activities, he was worth $500 an hour or more. Yet we found that he was
spending approximately half of his time, 45 hours or more per week,
performing $25/hour, $10/hr, and even minimum wage type work! Why?  A
huge factor was that he was surrounded by Time Liabilities.

At one point during our training he needed to punch holes in some paper
for a three ring binder. Yet when he went to punch the paper, his paper
puncher clearly wasn’t up for the job. He had bought a cheap model that
had was basically broken after a month of use. I watched as this
business owner kept turning his stack of papers around twice to punch.
Most often he kept misaligning the punch and ruining the stack.

Next, he stood up from his desk, walked out of his office, marched down
the hall to someone else’s office, searched for their high-quality
paper puncher, punched the holes in his stack, came back to the office
and finally inserted them in the planner. While he went through this
long process, I timed him without him knowing.  It took about 6 minutes.

I
asked the question, “How many times per week do you repeat that
activity of having to use someone else’s hole puncher?” He replied, “I
don’t know. Maybe 3 or 4.”  I responded, “So, you’re losing more than
an hour per month simply because you didn’t spend the extra $20 to get
a quality 3 hole puncher?” His response, “I didn’t think of it like
that at the time!” His cheap 3-hole puncher was potentially costing him
nearly $500 per month…and that was just one Time Liability holding him
back!

How much are your time liabilities costing you
at work? If you know what you are worth per hour, you can quickly
estimate the dollar-per hour impact of lost time. Any resource or
system or behaviors at work that keeps you away from your profitable
activities is a Time Liability. Replace Time liabilities with Time
Assets. The sooner you replace them, the sooner your profitability will
increase.

Are you surrounded by time liabilities?  Consider the following questions:

• Are
  the tools of your trade (computer, pens, stapler, etc) all within hands
  reach?  (If you often have to get up from you chair to pull out the
  scissors you use often, then you have a time liability.)
• Do
  you have the tools you need or is something missing? (Have you been
  putting off going to the office supply or computer store?)
• Do
  they all work properly? (If you have to squint or lean forward to view
  your computer screen, then it is likely a time liability…either that or
  your glasses!)
• Are your tools of the
  best working quality? (Remember the story of the three hole puncher.
  Invest more to get better results and greater longevity from the “tools
  of your trade”.)

By trading your Time Liabilities
for Time Assets, you will save time, be more productive, and reduce
stress in the long run.

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