It has been a busy week for me this week. I had the opportunity to go over to the UK and inspect some Industrial equipment. I have had many tell me “wow”, that is really cool you must have had a great time. Others, have asked me how I fit that into my busy schedule. As I was thinking about this, I realized that I really didn’t have enough time to get done what I needed to do, because there are only 24 hrs in a day. Sometimes we wish there were more hours, but I am sure we would use those up also. Of the 24 hours we also have to sleep at least 6 to 8 hours or more, so that even gives us less time. As I speak to many people – whether an apprentice in the trades, or a project manager in the office – everyone seems to simply be maintaining and always running behind. Many times, it seems we tend to always just be putting out small fires when dealing with issues that arise. The problem is that there are so many and we never catch up. This really seems to increase during the holidays as many times people call me in a panic when their tradesman license is about to expire or has expired about two months ago without them even realizing it. In these situations, I usually try and let them know that I can send the information in as soon as they complete a course online.
Why is it that some people seem to always get things done and have lots of free time, and others of us seem to always be playing catch up? Well, here is a saying that I keep in my head to help keep me on a decent schedule and complete what I need to. I wrote this down one day when I was simply overwhelmed and there was just not enough time to do everything:
Yesterday is Gone; Tomorrow is Never Here; So Don’t Waste Today.
This saying helps me to remind myself that I have to plan my days and even weeks, but to be flexible when other things may arise, like an unplanned trip to England for three days. How do you still get it done? Let’s break it down. If you are one that just simply rolls with the flow and you have no plan, then you have no direction on what needs to be done, let alone what is a priority in your life. With no planning everything you did not do yesterday is now piled onto today. All the time from yesterday is now gone and can never be recovered. This causes us to put things off, saying I will do it tomorrow, but has anybody ever really seen a tomorrow when we are living in today? No that makes no sense because Tomorrow never really comes. That is why we need to have a basic schedule reminding us when we have to get things done. Working in the construction industry can be very hectic at times. Without some kind of visual schedule, you are likely to miss important tasks. Missing these tasks can cause a major impact on your bottom line, even though it might have been a small thing. Make the best of your time by listening to our free weekly Surging Forward podcast on iTunes or simply visit our website. Stay Safe, and Keep Surging Forward!
