DON'T QUESTION MY TIME
Friends fight. Brothers FIGHT. There's a bit of truth that comes out when brothers really go at it. We know what to say; we know how to hit. We know the soft spots, and we typically don't hold back when true frustration arises. I've been a part of many of these brawls.
That said, years ago, my brother Phil and I were... raising our voices. Phil is a quiet soul and a wise sage with still a healthy amount of emotion. I've found myself in more than a handful of conversations where he's challenged me in the most helpful ways. In this conversation, he was extremely frustrated with me. At the time, I was the music director, he was our FOH/Audio engineer, and he was upset with me. Long story short, we had found ourselves in a back room where he was questioning where I was during the week, ultimately questioning the time I had put in prepping for the weekend. As he challenged me in this, something triggered me(not a surprise.) I stopped him and yelled, "don't you EVER question my time," and proceeded to tell him how much I actually did work. I was playing two truths and a lie...
In this season, I was getting the job done, and that was it—nothing more and nothing less. I was doing the bare minimum, which I saw as just fine. I thought so highly of myself that I thought my bare minimum was still better than most others' maximum output. I was being an arrogant asshole, and I was ticked that someone had caught me and called me out. Today, and many times after that conversation, I've thanked Phil for his challenges.
So, what's this story all about? Why tell it now? The bottom line is that if you don't want people questioning your time, you need to be proactive and trustworthy. Here are three ways you can create trust regarding your time and how it's used.
Tell at least ONE person to your immediate left or right where you are. If you're running to an offsite appointment, if you're heading out to lunch, maybe you're taking the afternoon off, let someone know. If one person knows where you're going or where you are, word will get around when you're needed, and no one will question how you're spending that time. This can be your boss, your peer, someone who reports to you... just someONE.
TIME BLOCK. This is not as easy as it looks, but it can really help you manage your time. A friend of mine went as far as to block even his time at home, which for him was really useful. For me, I do my best to block out a good majority of my time during work hours. The one block that I'm sure to schedule every day is catchup and emails. I schedule 30min to an hour every day, somewhere within the day, to catchup on my work and emails because if I don't, I'll be drowning the rest of the week. I also make sure to time block parts of my day where I know I'll need a break. I live in a world where people can schedule meetings for me, so if I'm not scheduling that time for myself, someone else will schedule it. Take your time back and time block.
Be responsible with your time and with others' time. When you take responsibility for not just your time but others' time, you'll start earning the respect of everyone around you. Do the things you say you're going to do WHEN you say you're going to do it. When you start creating healthy habits around this, this demands respect, but this is only a part of being responsible with time. When you start valuing others' time, taking responsibility for it, you value those around you, and isn't that always the bottom line?
Phil wasn't concerned about where I spent my time, what I was doing, or if I had gotten a task done. The truth of the matter was that my actions devalued Phil, and that's what he was feeling. Value others, and you'll start using time wisely.