Back in the good days, all roads led to Rome. At least any roads of consequence. There really wasn't any argument and the people that mattered back then, the Romans, believed this with a frenzied all-consuming zeal. Nothing wrong with good, old fashioned frenzied all-consuming zeal, as long as the focus is on the right object.

And what do you think MY old fashioned frenzied all-consuming zeal is directed at? You win the stuffed animal if you guessed Time Management.

I'm reluctant to come right out and say that I believe, as well as know, that regardless of what your situation is, where on the food chain of success and happiness you are, you will immeasurably improve your lot with a small to large dose of frenzied all-consuming zeal directed at improving how you spend, use and invest your time. The reason I'm reluctant to put Time Management into the category of some sort of cure-all is that by doing so, I will in some people's minds reduce Time Management to a kind of modern day snake oil. Let me give you some background on the how and why of Time Management from my perspective.

I didn't wake up one day and say, "I think I will spend a good deal of the next 30 or so years working with and dealing with Time Management". Way back then, the term Time Management wasn't even on my radar, let alone did I know what it meant or the implications of the term. I was a business consultant by accident. I was in the process of developing one of the two franchise organizations that I would build, develop and spread across Canada.

In the process of selling the franchises, I came in contact with a great many people who were looking to get into business for themselves. They would answer my ad in the Toronto Star, Winnipeg Free Press, or Vancouver Sun and the dialogue would start. Some would buy my franchise, a lawn care business. Many would not. During the qualifying process, it would become clear that what I had to offer was not suitable for many of them. They would explain what they were looking for and I would see what I could do for them. A career was born. From there I branched out into other areas of business development and consulting.

As I met more and more people who became clients, a trend started to develop. The goal of being in business for yourself is to prosper and get rich, right? Everybody had the same goal; they just all had a different approach as to how to get there. I was always amazed at how haphazard the approach was. The goal seemed clear to everybody. The way they were going to achieve it, however, was far from clear.

Even from the beginning, I noticed that almost everyone was making the same mistakes. No clear plan, no written plan, no focus, and no direction. Everyone focused on the end with no thought as to how to get there. I started working with some of my earlier clients on getting some structure, some direction, getting them to pay attention to what was clearly, in my mind, the foundation and the base on which to work. I had stumbled upon Time Management.

The more time I spent on what was becoming my learning curve for Time Management, the more success my clients had. We started to spend less time working on the short strokes; the details of their individual businesses but more time and focus on how they handled their own time. There was no question in my mind, and in theirs, that there was a direct correlation between how well they managed and controlled their time and their success, regardless of the business. Whether you were a mortgage broker, owned a plumbing business or wanted to be a baker, the constant theme and road to getting the most out of what you had was your ability to manage, control and use your time to your maximum benefit.

I started to spend more and more time on Time Management and less on the general business consulting side of my operations. I spent time researching, going to seminars, started putting on my own seminars and worked on putting down on paper everything I had learned. Out of this collective activity came the Power Time System.

Which leads me to the problem of telling people that the path to get what you want out of life, whatever that is, is irrelevant. That path will lead through your personal Time Management journey.