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Time Horizons


The maximum time span a person can work with - that person's maximum achieved time span - measures and defines that person's level of cognitive power.


Elliot Jaques

Elliot Jaques is a British sociologist who has spent over 30 years researching time and how what a person thinks about time effects their job competence. In his book Levels of Abstraction in Logic and Human Action, he identifies seven "time horizons" and how they fit with traditional business job descriptions. (A "time horizon" is the maximum time span a person can comfortably work with.)

His findings were as follows:

Time Horizon
Job Description
1. Three Months or less Shop floor personnel
2. Up to a year Section head
3. Up to two years Group head
4. Up to five years General manager
5. Up to ten years Subsidiary head
6. Up to twenty years Group head
7. Up to fifty years and beyond CEO

The most dramatic finding in Jaques studies was that people who could sustain a time horizon of ten years or more were the "rule makers" for all those in levels 1-4. By encouraging their brains to tolerate ambiguity and establish their own criteria and vision for living, that vision was often taken up by all those with shorter time horizons and lower tolerance for chaos and the unknown.

Today's Experiment:
1. Determine your own current time horizon. How far out into the future do you see? If you have goals, what is the average time frame for their achievement? Remember that a little bit of self-honesty will go a long way - if you don't like your reality you can change it; if you don't see your reality you are stuck in it (as any goldfish will tell you!)

2. Choose at least three people you know and/or work with and guesstimate their time horizons, based on what you can observe and infer in the way they live their lives. Bear in mind that a strong desire for order is generally a sign of a shorter time horizon. If you're up for it, think of at least one person who exemplifies each of the seven time horizons listed above.

3. Whatever your current time horizon, spend a few minutes today exploring the next furthest time horizon on the list. Daydream about what your life will be like, what you would like your life to be like, and what the world will be like in that expanded time frame.

Over time, as you expand your vision, you will find your ability to "think outside the box" and antcipate the future expands with it.

Remember, the power to predict is the power to change - greater happiness and success may be just a time horizon away!



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