Experts

BY Dr. Ken Hudson, Founder  - The Speed Thinking Zone

In a time-poor world we need to invent new ways of thinking and behaving. Ones which can help you prioritize, make you more productive and create graeter value, quicker.

So, I think we need to create a new measure which i have called your personal ROTI or what is your return on the time that you need to invest in a project or meeting?

Many of us have done this intuitively when we are weighing up the merits of attending a meeting for example. But it is now time to formalise this. Your time is valuable and it is a scarce resource. Hence you need to invest it where you will achieve the greatest return.

Enter this new measure of ROTI. Every time you are faced with a decision on where and how much to spend of your time, try and work out your ROTI. For example, I was recently invited to talk to a group of small business owners. Normally I would love to do this but it involved speaking at night (so minus 1 point because it takes me away from my family), it was an hour and a half away (another 1 point), this would be stressful (another 1 point detraction) and I was only speaking for 15 minutes (another negative one point).

In return, it would make be feel good (plus 1 point) and I might gain some new business (plus 1 point). In this case my personal ROTI on this meeting is in the negative so the decision becomes an easy one.

A new world, requires new measures. This simple concept will help you make better decisions and assist with your time management. It will also ensure that you gain the greatest possible return from your time invested.

Do you use anything similar to a ROTI score to help you manage your time?

Dr Ken Hudson is one of Australia’s leading experts on breakthrough thinking and innovation. With more than 16 years experience under his belt, he is a compelling speaker, trainer, consultant and facilitator for both small and large businesses. Prior to working in the ‘creative thinking’ space, Dr Hudson worked as a marketing executive for many large organisations, such as Citibank, Dunlop Slazenger and American Express. Since then, he has obtained his PHD in Organisational Creativity and formed his own business called Ideaspace in 2001, working with a range of small to large businesses, helping them to create and build breakthrough new products, solutions and growth opportunities. As a result of this experience he wrote his first, bestselling book called The Idea Generator (Allen & Unwin) which outlines 60 practical and effective tools he has developed. Whilst running his creative thinking workshops and lecturing at the University of Technology, Sydney, he discovered that many participants (or post-graduate students) did their best work when they did it at an express pace. Rather than filtering ideas and solutions participants are able to unlock their amazing unconscious mind and magic seems to happen. On the back of this powerful discovery, Dr Hudson formed The Speed Thinking Zone and has dedicated his business to helping everyone achieve ‘twice as much–in half the time’. His second book, The Idea Accelerator: How to solve problems fast using speed thinking, provides an array of powerful , new tools that can help any business owner to create breakthrough ideas and solutions in minutes. www.TheSpeedThinkingZone.com