Plate Theory of Time Management – Revisited

(originally posted September 2015; slightly edited because my writing style has changed over the years)

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I met a colleague for coffee on a recent afternoon, and she rattled off all the projects she was working on.  This woman, I thought to myself, has a full plate!

Her three client projects could each be full-time jobs and on top of that she works part-time for a consumer goods company.  She casually brushed off the notion that she’s busy as she sipped her latte and told me about her volunteer projects and the trip to India she’s planning. (I’m exhausted just recounting the story!)

It’s a stark contrast to another friend who is always overwhelmed and tired.   He works full-time as a professor and has an elementary school-aged son.  His wife manages the household.  His plate is also full.

How can two people with very different workloads both have full plates? 

And it occurred to me that “my plate” can take on different forms too.  Last winter, I managed 20 clients and still found time to take a vacation, plan a conference, secure two book deals and plan a renovation on my house.

This fall, however, I just couldn’t do as much.  Working on The Farmer’s Office consumed all my time and energy – just 2 clients in addition to book-writing felt overwhelming [[Funnily enough, 10 years later, I have another summer consumed with book-writing; and while I’m not renovating my house, I am moving]].  What happened to my plate?

🧘 Build a Rim

For the past few weeks, my days have been filled with client meetings and writing; and the evenings booked up with networking events.  While I didn’t have a particularly large amount on my plate, it felt full.

Last Wednesday evening was my first evening at home in over a week.  I had a glass of wine in the garden, cooked dinner, read a book, and was in bed by 9pm.

I woke up the next morning feeling refreshed with extra capacity.  I realized that having down-time was critical for me to be able to do more.

A 9” plate with a rim holds more than one without.

That little empty border keeps everything from spilling over.

That rim is your white space.

·       A walk with a friend

·       A quiet dinner

·       A few hours away from your inbox

🐢 Slow Down to Speed Up

I recently started working with a new entrepreneur. In our initial meeting, he explained how he works 90 hours a week: seeking investors and clients, and developing his product.  He barely had time to see his wife and questioned if he could take time off to celebrate the Jewish holidays.

For sure, he had a full plate!  And no doubt, he would have liked a bigger plate.

I started thinking further about my plate theory: how to expand one’s plate and better manage what’s on it.   As an entrepreneur, there are always more things you can put on your plate: a marketing initiative, a new product launch or business development.

My client arrived 15 minutes late to our meeting, and then spent another 15 minutes explaining why he was late.  As we sat down to look at his financials, he spent another 10 minutes trying to find the right file.  He interrupted our meeting regularly to take important calls. Each time he got off the phone, it took him a minute or two to transition back to our work, review where we were and jump back in.  He was moving so fast that he expended more energy just moving rather than moving forward.

Sometimes, slowing down allows you to speed up.

When we take time to carefully put things on your plate, they can be neatly arranged, and you can fit more on.  Also true when packing a suitcase: the more careful you are in packing and folding clothes, the more you can fit in.

If my client had taken the time to organize his files as he created and used them, he could find them more easily when he needed them.  If he had better blocked the time of our meeting, we could have accomplished our goals in one hour instead of three.

🥬 Think about what you put on your plate

I shared my plate theory with a friend.  It reminded her of mesclun – the leafy lettuce mix that can fill your plate with very little substance.

I have a project that’s like mesclun – it seems to spill over the edges and consumes more hours than I can bill; calls and emails at random times need a quick response. The communication plus the transition time back to what I was working on eats up time I could be working on other projects. Because the work itself is not engaging, the project has become burdensome and unsatisfying.

Other projects are like risotto – deeply satisfying but still manage to take over the plate if you’re not careful. My book is like risotto. It consumes as much time as a give it room for; and too much risotto (or risotto-like projects) can take over your plate in an unpleasant way. (Pictured: Lobster risotto with uni… see how it fills the plate)

“Scallop projects” are also satisfying but more contained on the plate than risotto. I recently coached a client on her business plan. It was a defined 6-hour commitment.  The lesson: be thoughtful about what you put on your plate.

We’re all busy.

We all want to do more—even if it’s just rest more. So here’s my advice:

Slow down.
Create some white space.
And ditch the mesclun.