Time Tips: Problem Handling Tip #1

A former acquaintance of mine wasn't very disciplined.

She was often late to work, due to car problems. But the car she owned was a model that topped the J.D. Powers Quality Surveys. So, it wasn't the car that was the problem. She didn't do the normal maintenance on the vehicle. She had put nearly 50,000 miles on it without even one change of oil and filter, for example.

When the engine finally failed, her brother removed the valve cover and I looked inside. It wasn't pretty. That engine contained more sludge than a Congressman's promises.

Her brother removed the engine guts, and we could not find one part that was spared from being burnt, scored, or otherwise damaged.

She should have invested some time maintaining her car, rather than having the engine freeze up on the Interstate while she was rushing to make an important appointment.

Now the issue with problems isn't so much the total time involved in maintenance vs. failure. It's really about the timing of the failure. For example, it takes a great deal of time to service a commercial jet. All those hundreds of hours of downtime constitute lost revenue. Wouldn't it make sense to just fix a failure when it happens? Well, not at 30,000 feet! And therein lies the defeat of every argument for "saving time" by putting off important preventive activities. They say time is money. Well, they also say you have to spend (invest) money to make money.

Don't let the seeming inconvenience of necessary maintenance put you in a position of disaster from a failure. Here are some items you should review to see if you are investing enough time in them:

• Career. Why do people wait until they are laid off before updating their skills and contributing to their professional network? Do it now.
• Children. Parents who don't invest in their young children deal with mind-boggling and heart-breaking problems as those kids get older.
• Exercise. It's not about living longer. It's about having mobility and less pain. If you don't have an exercise program now, you'll spend time in pain and Depends, later. The quality of your program is also important. See http://www.supplecity.com for free information.
• Friends. Why do you not hear from some people until they are down on their luck? We're all very busy, and it's easy to take your friends for granted. Don't.
• Home. Do the maintenance required on all the systems in your home. Your HVAC filter, furnace maintenance, lawn, trees, etc. Make a list.
• Neighbors. The people living around you can be enormous assets to your personal security and quality of life. Invest time in them, even if doing so is inconvenient--it really pays off.
• Parents. If you have living parents, do you make time for them? After they're gone, it'll be too late.
• Yourself. What are you doing for self-improvement? This isn't a process you can rush. Do a little bit fairly often, and eventually you'll come a long way. Like Don B. (one of our subscribers) has done.