TIME FRAMES.... Good or Bad!

THOUGHTFUL and GOOD IDEA: Put a time frame on it!

Hey, how are you?

It's 7:13 AM
Monday morning
April 04, 2011

You know I was just thinking. When I die, I wonder if they
come in and take down everything you've written, rewritten,
swiped, deployed, handwritten and put on YouTube, etc?

Just a thought. Do they let every generation just continue to
mature and keep writing things.

Are they going to let YouTube continue to KEEP videos
from every Tom, Dick and Harry.

From time to time some of the things we do in life are a bit
unclear to us.

What I mean is, we don't always know exactly when something
is supposed to start or end. EXAMPLE: Take raising children,
for example.

We are clear that it begins when they are born.

However, once you become a parent, you are a parent for the rest
of your life! Whether you live with them or not, you are still
their parent for life.

And that little child, the one that screams sometimes at you
will be doing some things you don't like. That child will need
guidance every day. And then, even after they are grown, your
wise counsel will still be occasionally needed, even if you don't
know everything.

In other words, giving guidance to children is something that
has a starting point, but has no clearly defined ending time.

Did you ever think of that TIME FRAME?

I, personally, have come to see the power and value of setting a
clear time frame to any situation when dealing with children.

If a child wants some kind of reward, it is a good idea to say,
"Okay, the time frame for earning this reward begins at noon on
Tuesday and ends at noon the following Friday."

In other words, by making it clear that you have a starting time
and an ending time, a framework can then be added to the project
that will give them some clarity, direction, and purpose.

This philosophy is also true in the business world.

Here's what I learned from one of my mentors. He said, "I was having dinner with a good friend of mine recently when he began to thank me for telling him about the value of putting a time frame on his business deals. That was years ago, and actually I had forgotten that I had even mentioned it to him until we were having dinner that night. He said that it was one of the most valuable truths he had ever
learned. It gave clarity and purpose to every business decision he made because
there was a specific starting time and a definite ending time to each one. He
indicated that prior to that time there may have been some clarity at the beginning of a deal, but there had never been much clarity as to its end.

All of that changed, he said, when he learned to put a time frame on every deal in
which he was involved."

That's what I am trying to say in this blog post today.

The more clarity you can bring to a situation by having a specific starting time and a specific ending time, the better off you will be, regardless of whether that is in raising children or in your business dealings.

Let's talk about your school, your children and the school principal. In that situation there is always a set starting time and ending time.

Every year your kids start school in late August and end it in late May.

If you implement something during the school year that did not work well, you can simply change the policy for the following year. If you're a principal you could re-write the handbook, or change any policies, or adapt any rules to your specific set of circumstances as you see fit.

It can work well because everyone knows that there is a definite time frame involved.

Time Frames Work!!!

As a principal you'll also know that each school year was different from the one before.

I don't ever recall anyone ever saying to me, "Well, that's the way we've always done it!"

You see, that kind of thinking is a direct result of not being clear on the starting and ending point of the situation.

Let's take another example. What about church?

That is a different ballgame altogether, right?!

And, in that setting, you might often hear people say, "Well, that's the way we've always done it!"

I did not understand where that mindset originates from until I realized that the difference between the school situation and the church setting was exactly that - there is a specific time frame to the school year, but not to the church year.

So, you can quickly learn to frame EACH church project, school project, business project... with a definite start and finish time.

There was an article that pointed out just how strong this concept can be.

Major Shift For You As A Business Owner

An employee approached a particular doctor with certain demands that she wanted
in her contract. She wanted to make more money and to be rewarded for her
efforts. Gas was going up, she had purchased a new condo, and a new car, so she needed to make more money.

After listening patiently, the savvy doctor explained that while the
employee wanted certain guarantees as far as money was concerned, there was no one making any guarantees to him as her employer.

That concept was totally lost on the demanding of money increases by the employee.

Finally the thoughtful doctor had an idea.

He would meet all of the requested concessions on one condition; that the employee write a letter of resignation and post-date it one year from the date of their conversation. The smart doctor explained that if the employee's goals that he provided in the office were met in that period of time, she would be rewarded proportionately because the doctor would then be in a position to meet the demands.

However, if the goals were NOT met, then the letter of resignation would serve to exempt him, the employer, from paying unemployment benefits when the employee left.

In that way, they would both be protected and guaranteed a reasonable outcome.

When I read that article, I thought that was a rather strong position for both
parties to take.

However, regardless of what you or I think about that scenario,the bottom line is that a time frame was put on the situation in order for there to be clarity for everyone concerned.

See what I mean?

This issue of a time frame sets the tone and the pace for the entire structure to have clarity.

In the future, consider whether there is clarity concerning the start and finish times of each business and personal endeavor you take part in.

The more clarity you have concerning the time frame within which you are working, the better off you are going to be, whether that is in raising children, in business, creating contracts, or in any endeavor in life.

Time frames bring clarity and closure to every situation!

Put a time frame on something and it'll make you look at what you're doing!