Time Management

Introduction

An exact-phrase search for “time management” yields nearly

7 million results on Google and more than 9 million hits on AltaVista search engines. A search for “time management” in Amazon

books returns more than 65,000 results. There are thousands of

time management workshops and seminars.

Clearly, time and the management of time is an important issue,

and the supply of time management products—books, articles,

CDs, workshops, etc.—reflects the huge demand for these products. The proliferation of time management aids points out how

commonplace time pressures have become, and how people are

struggling desperately to cope with and find time for the demands

placed on them.

Why do so many people have so much trouble managing their

time? We are to blame, in part, for creating our modern lifestyle.

We believe that a full life is a busy life, with work, family, hobbies,

civic duties—all of which place real and conflicting demands on

our time.

Many of us believe that the answer to this problem lies in compressing more activities into each day—having more things to do

than there is time in which to do them is a problem that can be

solved by becoming more efficient. If you have ten things on a

typical day’s to-do list and normally finish only five of them, then

figuring out how to do six is a productivity increase of 20 percent.

That’s great if you’re comfortable not doing four things. But that’s

not time management.

Some people believe that the answer is to apply more time

doing those ten things. If they’re work-related tasks, then, obviously, it’s necessary to spend more time at work. Because time

cannot be created, however, and only reallocated, spending more

time management

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time on one activity means spending less on another. So, spending

more time at work is great if you don’t have a family, any relationships, hobbies, personal interests, or need sleep. But that’s not time

management either. At least it’s not healthy time management.

Time management is activity management and involves defining what tasks need to be done and finding a realistic way in which

to do them. Having more tasks to do than time in which to do them

ensures failure. And having so much to do that you spend your

entire waking life ticking off items from your to-do list will lead

to frustration and burnout.

No man ever said on his deathbed, “I wish I had spent more

time at the office.”

—Senator Paul Tsongas

Within this book I’ll discuss how to approach and complete

tasks—those that are work-related, and those that involve family,

friends, and community. These two worlds, if it needs to be said,

are in different universes. The goal of the book is to help you deal

with continuing time demands with common sense and efficiency

so that what is most important receives its due.

Finally, you can read this book from start to finish, but that’s not

essential to understand its concepts. Instead, use the Contents to

find a chapter about a topic of concern. Choose the subjects that are

appropriate to your situation and help you the most. Good luck.

We listen in astonishment to the most severe examples

on news broadcasts: stories involving someone who

becomes so outraged over a seemingly trivial event that

he assaults and injures or even kills another person. Road rage is

one of the most common manifestations of this disorder, but there

are many others and can involve almost any human activity. All

that’s required are two or more people, a spark, and a participant

who takes the whole thing way too seriously. And it appears that

these ingredients are available and come into contact with each

other with surprising frequency.