Purpose: To facilitate discussion about the importance of time management.

 Time Required: 15 to 20 minutes.

 Size of Group: Unlimited.

 Materials Required: A “check,” made out to each participant, prepared in advance by the trainer.

 The Exercise in Action: Few people have trouble deciding how to set priorities for spending money, but the same cannot be said for time, even though some would argue it’s a more important commodity. Joli Mauracher, a skills development specialist for GE Capital in Broomfield, CO, uses the following exercise to drive home the importance of time management:

She hands each participant a check made out to them for the amount of $86,400 (nonnegotiable, of course) and explains that they have only 24 hours to spend the money. Participants then share how they plan to spend the money, and each person’s response is recorded on a flipchart.

When the exercise is completed, Mauracher notes that most participants spent every penny of the check. This leads to a discussion that each day has the same amount of seconds as the check has dollars—86,400—and begs the question: Why are we so much more likely to prioritize how we spend our money than our time?