Leaders, It's Funny How We View Time

Have you ever seen a roll of quarters? There are 40 quarters in a roll and it’s worth ten bucks. It’s heavy and feels substantial, but what happens when you unravel it? And how is this a metaphor for hitting your long-term goals?

It’s funny how we view time. The odds are, you have a checklist of things you want to get done today. You know…a “to-do” list. Maybe you have a list for the week. I suspect we make lists like this because we feel like we can plan and control our effort and focus, and the distractions during these small bits of time that are a day or a week.

That being said, I’ll say it again, it’s funny how we view time. We treat the hours in our days much like we treat pennies. They have value of course, but if you were to lose a few it’s no big deal, right?

Now, let’s get back to the roll of quarters and consider how we view time on a bigger scale. Each quarter in the roll represents one quarter on the calendar and taken together, adds up to ten years.

I know ten years sounds like a long-time, but when we unravel it, ten years is only forty quarters.

In fact, we speak in terms of quarters at Results On Purpose because it sounds more urgent than years. And what this illustration shows is that over the next ten years, if you are setting goals and measuring quarterly, you will only get forty blocks of time in which to plan your goals and execute them. Doesn’t it sound a lot different AND URGENT when we put it that way?

Amazing things can be accomplished if your team does not squander these forty quarters with a lack of planning, execution, and accountability. To put a fine point on it, look back at the last 8, 12, or 16 quarters. How many “working on the business” goals were accomplished that moved your business towards your long-term objectives? And how many quarters were squandered as if they were mere pennies?

I’ll say it one last time. It’s funny how we view time.

Of course, the past is the past. The future is what matters. If you want to move faster, take the opportunity now to plan the next quarter well, figure out how to support everyone, and hold them accountable, execute, and repeat. In other words, change how it is that you view time.