by Ryan H. Law
When I was about 15 years old I got my first Franklin Planner. It was in a beautiful leather cover and I carried it everywhere.
When I was in college I got my first Palm Pilot (remember those?). It was so handy to have a calendar and contacts all on one device.
Time management has always been an interesting subject to me. I have read books by Stephen Covey, Hyrum W. Smith, David Allen, Tim Ferris, Bryan Tracy, Michael Hyatt and many others on time management. Some things worked well and some things did not.
When I heard about Travis Parry’s book, Achieving Balance I did not think I would learn anything new.
I was wrong.
Well, that’s not entirely true. I didn’t learn anything new, but Travis has created a system that takes the best wisdom and puts it together into a logical, simple system.
Parry’s book is short – less than 150 pages. I read it in one sitting. Now that I have read through it and got an overview of the full system, I am going back through it to really study it and do all the action exercises.
Parry’s book is written for financial planners, but it will help anyone struggling with too much to do and not enough time to do it all.
Some Key Take-Aways
Many financial advisors find themselves in the Workaholic Trap. In fact, Parry says that financial advisors are three times more likely to become workaholics than others.
Does this sound like you? You are driven to achieve and help as many people as possible, and that can mean long days, weekends, and working on vacations.
When you are home you are there physically, but not mentally. As you try to work hard to provide for your family, you worry that you are losing out on what is most important – family relationships and personal time.
Parry’s time management system, named the Make Time MethodTM, doesn’t just focus on getting more done in less time. His system is focused on priorities. To set priorities, values and goals need to be identified first.
Parry says that, “Balance is achieved when we prioritize our time on our highest values.” That reminds me of a quote from Hyrum W. Smith, who created the Franklin Planner:
When your daily activities are in concert with your highest priorities, you have a credible claim to inner peace.”
That makes sense, right? If I say that time with my family is one of my highest values and a priority, but I don’t actually spend much time with my family, I will be out of balance, and therefore will not be entitled to inner peace. Parry’s book and included guidebook will walk you through exercises to identify your values, goals, and priorities.
There is so much more to Parry’s book – an ideal calendar, theme days, collection points, processing incoming information, and accountability partners.
It is important to note that Parry’s Make Time MethodTM is not a quick fix, or time management “hacks” or anything like that. It will take some time, reflection, and work. In fact, Parry’s website says it takes about 90 days to go from chaos to an ideal life.
Even if you just get one or two good ideas from Parry’s book, it is worth getting a copy. If you will put in the time (like I am going to do) I am confident that you will get much more than one or two good ideas, though.
ACTION ITEM
- Get Travis’ book! I can’t recommend Achieving Balance enough. It is well worth your time and money to pick up a copy. You can get it directly from Travis for $8.99 at his website – TravisParry.com.
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