Are You Blocking Enough "Taz Time" in Your Day?
Photo by Portuguese Gravity on Unsplash
I spend a lot of time teaching.
But I also spend a lot of time learning.
And one of my favorite things is when I learn stuff from my students and clients.
A while back, during a group coaching session, my client, Andy, was talking about the improvements he’s made to his schedule and he said:
“And I make sure to block enough “taz time” every day and that’s working really well for me”.
And for a second, I thought maybe I misheard because I had no idea what “taz time” was.
And so I stopped and asked.
And Andy said,
“Oh, yeah, that’s what I call the buffer I build into my schedule. It’s for “Tasmanian devil”. You know all that urgent stuff that just comes up and you’ve got to deal with quickly before it makes a huge mess.”
And I thought to myself, “This is genius”.
“Taz time” sounds so much more fun than what I call it (“buffer”).
And it’s so evocative of what it feels like, especially when you haven’t blocked the time for “Taz time”.
And, it’s alliterative. And who doesn’t love that?!
That’s exactly what it feels like, doesn’t it?
You have a plan, and then that Tasmanian devil comes in and starts running around throwing stuff all over the place and leaving the remnants of a tornado in its wake.
For you to clean up.
But, if you block off the time for “Taz”, you’re essentially penning him in.
You’re making sure there’s a fence and that he doesn’t go around ripping the rest of your plan to shreds.
So, that’s it.
I’m using it.
From now on, it’s called “Taz Time”.
And you can thank Andy.