We’ve all been there, whether on the streets around Boise, ID – where I do most of my driving – or if you drive in Los Angeles or New York, London or Bangalore, driving in traffic is probably not the high point of your day. Yes, you may be able to catch up on the news, listen to talk radio, play your favorite music, or read an audio book – but for the most part you’d probably rather be doing something other than being stuck in traffic.

We drive in traffic and it’s a bad thing, we drive traffic to our doorstep and it’s a good thing, we monitor web traffic and try to increase it. Traffic is a part of our lives and as such, there are lessons that we can learn from traffic that will help us better navigate driving in it, driving it to us, and increasing it.

The 3 lessons are the principle of economy, the dangers of abrupt and frequent change, and diversity.

The principle of economy is about making choices. Everyone chooses those things that best serve their own interest. In other words, people take those actions which yield the greatest net expected benefit.

When driving, we obey the traffic laws and courtesies so we can get where we are going in the most efficient way possible. What value is there in cutting people off and driving on the shoulder of the roadway? Yes, it might allow us to move along quicker, but it would likely irritate other drivers, get us pulled over and cited, or worse yet, everyone else would also opt to do it and then the roads would become chaotic and there is no benefit there.

When you take an action be deliberate about it and understand the consequences, to ensure it yields the greatest net expected advantage.

Traffic backups and bottle necks occur, but changing lanes all the time rarely helps you get ahead. You either have to choose an alternate route or stay in your lane... eventually you will get where you are going. Prioritize what is important and stick with it, until you are certain that making a change will yield the greatest net expected advantage.

Time is a resource, but not like any other. It is not a resource you can find, buy, store, or get back. It is finite, it cannot be reduced or increased. We exist within it. It is like a river rushing by, or washing over us. It can be like the wind, flying past you in great gusts. Whether a river or the wind, it consistently passes by us, whether we want it to or not. Unlike any other resource it is naïve to think we can manage time. Instead we engage with it as it fleetingly passes by.

So why talk about managing time? Why not talk about watching time, or experiencing time, or engaging time. The term “time management” is a misnomer, but we constantly talk about “managing time” and “improving time management”. This may be the reason we all have problems with “time management”. We are inundated with “time management” articles, books, blogs, seminars, and webinars all touting ways to better manage time. 

Do you find achieving your goals is like finding the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow we read about in St Patricks’ day poetry or lore of the Leprechauns?

If so, I’d like to offer a little Leprechaun poetri to turn your SMART goals into reality.

We’ve all made them, those SMART goals that we end up forgetting about, beating ourselves up over, and wondering why we fail again and again to the point where we just quit making those goals. You know the goals that are Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Timed (SMART). Or, some variation on this. As we go through the steps, we agonize to make sure we include all of the elements and word it correctly.

Then we watch and wait, and wait, and wait — but they never happen. Okay, I’m exaggerating. We go out and start working on it, but somewhere along the way something else, usually life, gets in the way and the goal is forgotten about.

A smart man once said that the definition of insanity is “doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results” (that was Albert Einstein). You may say, yeah. I keep setting goals and I don’t achieve them, so why set goals, I mean that sounds like insanity. But is it really? I don’t think so. I think it is that we are only doing part of the same thing over and over. I suggest that you make SMART goals with POETRI.

You ask what POETRI? Yes, that’s correct. I will assume you already know what SMART means for making goals (if not see three paragraphs above or for more details go to Wikipedia). So what does POETRI stand for, you ask? It stands for those things you need to make your goals happen. It is the Planning, Organization, Execution, Tracking, Rewards, and Improvement that will help you to achieve your goals (and maybe even find that pot of gold at the end of the rainbow).