Return on Time Invested (ROTI)

I encountered this concept over a decade ago and it is one that I think about frequently. It essentially boils down to this:
Prioritize spending time working on things today that will free up time for you tomorrow (or into the future).

We never seem to have a shortage of activities to work on. But how many of these things can people actually say are investments that pay dividends to save them time in the future? We spend a lot of time dreading doing routine tasks each month, but if we gave more strategic thought on how to handle them differently, we may find new ways to have them completed.

A small example is this: The recurring task of paying bills.

Spending 30 minutes to go and arrange to setup a bill for auto payment, can easily save you the 10 minutes a month it takes to manually pay that bill. This simple investment allows you to start to see a return on your time invested in just 3 months.

The same can be said for other repetitive tasks that you or your team do within your company on a regular basis. These are items ripe for disruption and improvement.

Technology provides all sorts of opportunities to better organize your activities to save you time and effort. Many people struggle to get out from their rushed schedules because they either feel they are too busy, or don’t know where to look for these time saving opportunities.

With the right mindset and know-how of where to look, and what you are looking for, you can optimize your time by investing today for a more efficient tomorrow.