No doubt you’ve heard of bottle stoppers, show stoppers, and crime stoppers, but have you ever heard of a clock stopper?
During World War II, German bombs rained on England. Some of these bombs didn’t detonate on impact; they wedged in the soil six feet deep or more and had detonation devices- ticking mechanical clocks. Britain’s unexploded bomb (UXB) teams were deployed to unarm the detonation devices on the deadly bombs. To assist them in this delicate work, they used a powerful magnet called a clock stopper.
In a mechanical fashion, clock stoppers literally stopped time to prevent detonation and give the UXB team time to complete a safe disarming of the powerful bombs. No doubt, the UXB teams had nerves of steel.
You are probably like me and in spite of nerves of steel and a focus on productivity, we both dream about a clock stopper on busy days in business. The to do list is a half mile long in the morning and then interruptions, emergencies and crises develop during the day. By the close of the work day, it seems that the list is now a mile and a half long.
If only you could buy a clock stopper to “catch up” for just a few hours!
I suspect even the imaginative gadgeteers designing the mass of wizardry contained in Apple iPhones don’t see a clock stopper as ever being an option. Buying time will remain a figure of speech since Time is the ultimate non-renewable resource.
Conceding to the inevitable passage of time and your seemingly endless work load, is there an alternative to stopping time?
I think so.
A solution for managing your busy-ness is to devote time, at least weekly, to remove yourself from the every day work of your business like lessons, training, boarders, and ask yourself strategic questions about your business activities.
- Why am I in horse business?
- What does my business look like when I’m successful?
- What am I doing that someone else could or should be doing?
- Who do I need to help me?
- When are the changes going to start?
When you can do this work away from the buzz of your farm or ranch, you’ve created your own substitute clock stopper. The strategic process requires concentration that you’re seldom allowed when you are center stage running your business.
Get in the truck, drive a mile down the road and park under a shade tree if necessary.
Doing strategic work on a regular basis is important and crucial for your success and sanity.
As an alternative, consider this quote attributed to both Albert Einstein and Ben Franklin:
” The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.”
Your different results will appear once you make the opportunity to stop your own clock long enough to strategize your personal success.