Short-term Sacrifices and Long-term Gain (11-22-17)

This will be the final entry in our series on time. I know this was quick, but as they say, “Time flies when you are having fun.” There’s a time for everything, and that includes bad jokes 😉 Anyway, we started by challenging ourselves to think about how we CHOOSE to invest our time. Last week we thought about investing time in people. This week I want us to think about saving money as it relates to saving time.

Most of us have learned about saving money since we were little kids. If you were anything like me, I had a piggy bank where I saved my allowance. From there, I moved up to my first savings account. Now, I have other savings vehicles like a 401k. One of the things I’ve learned over time is that saving money is hard and there aren’t any shortcuts. Saving money is not complicated, but it’s difficult. It’s difficult because saving money requires you to have discipline to consistently put money away. It also requires you to make a short-term sacrifice for long-term gains. I know that if I don’t save now, I’ll be in trouble as I get older.

You’re probably wondering what this has to do with work. As I mentioned, saving money requires discipline and the willingness to sacrifice short-term for long-term gain. I don’t know about you, but I’m not always great at having the discipline and investing the time to do things right the first time. How often have you taken a shortcut at work that then caused more problems later on? Maybe you didn’t set aside the time so you could really think through something, so when it was time to make a decision you weren’t prepared. Maybe you didn’t take the time to create a clear communication plan, and instead just sent off a quick email that created more swirl. Whatever the situation is, these issues occur because we don’t always have the discipline to invest our time appropriately. We don’t always have the discipline to make a short-term sacrifice, which results in long-term problems that we can’t afford to have.

The challenge: Are you being disciplined enough to invest time now to save yourself from problems in the future? How can you do a better job of creating short-term sacrifices for long-term gains?

By the way, have a wonderful Thanksgiving! I hope you take the time to unplug and be with friends and family.

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

Investing Time in People (11-15-17)

Last week we kicked off a series on time and focused on spending time vs. spending money. This week I’d like to challenge us to think about how we are choosing to invest our time in people.

Let’s pretend for a minute that you walked into the office and you saw a nickel on the ground. You picked it up and put it in your pocket. Later on when you see me, for grins and giggles you say, “I found this nickel. It’s yours!” Then you flip it in my direction. I catch the nickel and say thanks. Then, I say, “This is yours,” and I flip a dime over to you. I walk away before you can ask me why I flipped you a dime. A few days later you find a dime on the ground, you go through the same thing, and after you toss me the dime I toss you back a quarter. You decide to keep experimenting and very quickly, you realize that if you give me money I’ll give you MORE money back than you give me. It’s doesn’t matter if you give me a penny or $100 bill. If you give me money, I’ll give you more back. Besides trying to figure out why this is happening, what are you bound to do next? I’m sure you would become very intentional about handing me money on a regular basis, so you could reap the reward from that “investment”.

What does this have to do with work? The above situation is a winning situation for you, because you get MORE than what you give. What if you could have the same situation at work? I think you can. Instead of giving someone coins you found on the floor, what if you spent a few minutes intentionally investing in them? Your investments could be different things. Maybe the investment is recognition, and your investment is a few seconds to send a nice email/text/note to someone to let them know you appreciate them. Maybe the investment is giving some feedback to help them get better. Maybe you take time out of your day to coach/mentor someone. Whatever this looks like, you are taking your time and investing it in another person, and that investment is bound to turn into something.

How have you felt when someone invested time in you? How did that change your relationship with that person? How did that impact the work you did? From my experience, the best leaders and people I’ve worked with have been the ones who have invested time in me in one way, shape, or form. Sometimes the time they invested in me was a short few seconds and sometimes it was longer. When people invested in me I did my best to give them back more and more. As our relationship continued the time they invested in me became like a savings account that kept accruing interest. If I feel like you are investing and invested in me I’ll give you hours of my life. I’ll give you my energy. I’ll give you my magic. I’d hope that those things are worth more than the original investment of time that people placed in me.

The challenge: Are you investing your time in people? If I asked the people around you if you consistently invested in them, what would they say?

Take action: Invest time in someone today.

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

Time and Money Problems (11-8-17)

This week I’d like to start a series about things relating to time and money. I’d like us to start by challenging ourselves on how we think about spending time by sharing a story about a friend named Dave.

Dave is a friend of mine who lives in the Indy area. He’s a good guy and a smart dude. He has a solid job and makes pretty good money. With that said, Dave is always borderline broke. If you’d ask him about this he’d say something like, “I don’t know where all the money went.” If you’d go over to his house you’d find a lot of junk he has purchased that he doesn’t need. If you looked through his finances you’d see that he never took the time to set up a basic savings account or take advantage of things like a 401k. Dave is always scrambling. He might make it day to day, but he’s making things pretty hard on himself. Do you know anyone like Dave? At this point, if you’re anything like me I’m assuming that you are thinking, “It sounds like this Dave guy has a money spending problem. He should do something about that.” That would be a fair and accurate assessment.

What if the story about Dave isn’t about money? What if Dave’s story is about time? What if it’s about a talented guy who is always “so busy” and “never has time for anything” and “has way too many priorities.”? What if the story is about a guy who always seems to be sprinting and exhausted? Does that sound familiar? Could that story be about you? It could be about me sometimes.

How does this connect to anything? Do you ever think about controlling, investing, and spending your time the same way you do with your money? As I think about the story about spending money vs. spending time, I find myself intrigued by how we respond differently to them. If the story is about spending money, I feel we often say, “Dave needs to fix his money spending problem.” If the story is about spending time, I feel we are prone to say, “Life is just busy.” If it’s about time we give Dave a pass. We act like Dave has no ability to control and direct his time. This isn’t the case. Just like finances, Dave has the power, ability, and the tools available to him to take more control. Whether or not Dave wants to admit it, he is CHOOSING not to control his money/time situation.

I understand that life gets busy. I understand that some periods of life you sprint harder than others. My belief is that if you find yourself always sprinting and running around like crazy then something is wrong. When I realize this is happening to me, I know the first place I need to look is inward. Am I clear on what I want to accomplish as a human, husband, dad, and employee? Am I prioritizing the right things? Am I spending my time on the things that truly need to get done?

The challenge: Are you controlling, investing, and spending YOUR time in an intentional way?

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry