Understanding the implications of time in business

Proverbs 12v27 says: “The lazy man does not roast his game but the diligent man prizes his possessions”.
This quotation illustrates the need to come up with sustainable strategies of preserving your catch.
It challenges the way we do things and appeals for a higher mental application in the ways we preserve and develop business systems that helps us to defend our turfs. Laziness is found in the process or methods of doing things.

In the book of Genesis Esau is described as the hunter and Jacob is described as the tiller of the land.
In the same book we are told that Esau sold his birthright to Jacob. Esau came back from hunting empty handed and was very hungry.
Jacob was cooking red stew yet he had not been hunting.
This story illustrates some shortcomings of doing routine work, which is devoid of being futuristic in its focus and design.

Esau was lazy to think.
His processes were limited to what he could catch on a particular day but not what he could have on a sustainable basis so as to preserve his time and entitlements.
Esau should have brought some animals alive and bred them so that he would not go to the forest forever/everyday.

Esau worked hard and the results were sometimes instantaneous but not long lasting. Esau invested in muscles more than intellect.
Esau did not take time to process work in order to bring out the best result with less effort going forward.
He was using all his strength everyday.
His burnout manifested in him losing his birthright.

In our situation, parastatals such as Air Zimbabwe, Zesa and TelOne appear to be operating like Esau.
It never occurred to Esau that he could beg for stew from Jacob given their varied backgrounds and core competencies.

Later on Esau turned from a hunter to a cultivator (Genesis 28v6, Genesis 33v8), These two gentlemen represent two systems of time management
a) The Esau system operates on 100 percent effort and yields 50 percent effect or result.
b) The Jacob system operates on 75 percent effort and yields 100 percent effect or result.
This implies that the manager needs to spend time and energy in investigating the best operating strategy so that he/she will spend less time implementing his goal.
Knowing the right thing will enable the manager to save time and reach the intended goal faster and efficiently.
iii) Loss of momentum and focus

Proverbs 24 v30-34 says, “I went past the field of the sluggard past the vineyard of the man who lacks judgement thorns had come up everywhere . . . a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest – and poverty will come on you like a bandit and scarcity like an armed man”.
An athlete is never judged on how he or she starts but how he or she finishes as they cross the winning line.

History does not have a record of an athlete who started very fast and fails to win the race.
Some managers start strong but lose momentum and focus along the way due to reasons beyond their control or under their control.
If you don’t finish strong you are lazy. Some businesses have fallen by the wayside due to lack of momentum or focus.

Some businesses lost all the shareholder’s funds when the management lost focus of the original intention of the business.
Some businesses have in the past lost their (momentum) market share through mismanagement of time and money.
Universally most managers who fail to put urgency into their time have contributed to loss of momentum in the businesses they manage.

What is the implication of time to managers?
The most important lesson I got from fishing is that time is a perishable good. Once time is wasted it is difficult to regain it.
No matter how hard a fisherman tries, it is not possible for him to turn the clock backwards.

Though this might appear to be basic knowledge most fisherman behave as if the day will last forever.
Likewise most people behave and operate as if they will live forever. They don’t put urgency into their activities.

Time is money. Time is as good as currency. Those who guard their time jealously are more successful in their endeavours.
Those who understand that time is currency tend to put urgency into implementing things. Fishing, life like human life, is perishable. People only live for a short time and lose life.

This therefore entails that the manager must make the best out of the available time by focussing on fulfilling company’s goals and objectives i.e. your companies ‘craving’ as well as your own personal ‘craving’.
Time is given to fishermen in equal proportions but what they do with the allocated time separates a successful fisherman from a failure.

The greatest sin of mankind is found in the way each generation let opportunities pass by without realising that an opportunity utilised creates other opportunities.
There is no wisdom in thinking what your children will do instead what can you do so that your children will get inspiration from you.

Most of us are guilty of inaction but hope that our children will be in a better position to fulfil our dreams.