Business Optimization Comes Down to a Single Number: 1,440

Properly using each minute of the day will go a long ways for your business.

ALBERT Einstein, Leonardo da Vinci, Julius Caesar, Winston Churchill, Theodore Roosevelt, Marie Curie, Margaret Thatcher, Ronald Reagan and I have something in common.

No, it’s not our birthdays. It’s something we always shared and I continue to share every day with you. Those individuals “left deep footprints in the snow of life”- words my Master Sherpa Coach also used to describe me. I hope she was referring to my thinking and not my shoe size! What else do I think we all have in common? Our approach to the number 1,440 (though they likely didn’t look at it quite this way).

This is the number of minutes in every day. Multiply it times 365 and you have 525,600 of these units every year, which if properly managed will lead you to health, wealth and wisdom.

Time is money. Time is progress toward goals. We all start from the same spot every day at 12 a.m. with a fresh opportunity to make time investment choices.

Don’t Misspend Your Valuable Time

Think in terms of micro, not macro. Not hours, because they are big and hard to manage. There are so few hours in our 1,440. Dealing with a bigger number is easier for most of us, but not really very practical.

So how about a real-world example?

I was helping a client sell their concepts into Target stores in Minneapolis. We secured an appointment with the right influencers and decision-makers for our pitch. When we walked into the meeting room at the appointed time and introductions and handshakes were exchanged, something strange happened. The manager who accepted the meeting and put his team together placed an egg timer on the conference table and set it for 60 minutes – the first time this happened in my 38-year selling career. We had exactly 60 minutes to discuss the value of our new concept. No pressure there. Thankfully, we were prepared and made the sale. Will you be ready?

Your most precious asset cannot be reclaimed once you lose it to unproductive activities – unlike losing money, which is another important asset but you can make it back. You can’t do that with time. Misspend, and it’s history!

So how should you focus on your 1,440 tomorrow?


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To start, get up earlier and have a routine. Don’t micro-manage your troops. Lead your company and department by example by managing your 1,440. Take a look at how your teams view their 1,440 to get the job done to meet strategic, tactical and daily goals. This does not mean you should criticize their minute management, but they do need to be aware of the importance of MSoM, or Micro Scheduling of Minutes.

When you break down critical work tasks, do your people talk about minutes, hours or days? Some gentle coaching about minutes can be beneficial. Does a meeting need to be an hour? What will be accomplished? Could a prepared agenda beforehand reduce that hour to 45 minutes? Eureka, you just helped them gain 15 of their 1,440! Doesn’t seem like much, but they all add up in a workday. Minutes also matter if you service customers in a congested metro area. A few minutes make all the difference when heavy traffic is a reality in your world.

Optimization Can Lead to Optimal Processes

What else matters? Your business processes are a prime candidate for 1,440 optimization. We spend a good deal of time helping clients graphically map their selling, operations and support processes. Redundancy and wasted steps usually rear their ugly heads when closely examined.

More 1,440 optimization opportunities for your entire team and you as a company or department leader can be realized with closer examination. So give me a minute, will you? Why don’t you give yourself a minute by examining the processes that support your business? Having more effective use of time is the biggest challenge and competitive advantage you will face growing your business.

What other challenges will you face? Complacency, inefficient processes and overworked people are common in business. Invest your now minutes to save future minutes by reviewing outdated processes. The next biggest pushback is, “We don’t have time!” Really? How did that happen? Do you think Leonardo da Vinci said he didn’t have enough time to invest in a work of art that has lasted more than 500 years?

We all live with the same 1,440 minutes a day. Some make more of their limited time on Earth than others. What can you do with all those extra minutes?

Invest them wisely in your business and with those people and activities that round you out as a person. Family should be No. 1. Your health should be No. 2. Then your other business goals are No. 3. Infinitely sustainable in that order. These investments in minutes and awareness of your most precious asset of time will help you balance life and work. Manage your minutes every day to be the most productive, happy and healthy person you can be.

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About the Author

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Paul C. Boucherle, Certified Protection Professional (CPP) and Certified Sherpa Coach (CSC), is Security Sales & Integration’s “Business Fitness” columnist. A principal of Matterhorn Consulting, he has more than 30 years of diverse security and safety industry experience including UL central station operations, risk-vulnerability assessments, strategic security program design and management of industry convergence challenges. Boucherle has successfully guided top-tier companies in achieving enhanced ROI resulting from improved sales and operational management techniques. He is a charismatic speaker and educator on a wide range of critical topics relating to the security industry of today and an accomplished corporate strategist and marketer whose vision and expertise in business performance have driven notable enterprise growth in the security industry sector.

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