The Time Has Come, Second Part

Yesterday, I discussed my taste for time-management books. It is a critical subject to address because it bleeds into each area of life. Punctuality is simply a time-management matter. Some people feverishly work right up to the cut-off point on each assignment or project they do. But the effort, foreboding, and last-minute panic scouse borrow the fun out of all of it.

And some folk appear forever in a rush, pushing and driving, sometimes running here and there. Resource allocation permits room for ease and humor, much-needed oil to ease the friction made by motion.

Which brings us back to the council we studied yesterday in Ephesians five. Being reasonable, clever, and wise in the rationing of our time. In a book I was reading, The Time Trap ( I informed you I used to be a sucker for such volumes ), I came on a catalogue of the hottest time wasters. They helped identify some specific areas of disappointment I must continually watch. Who has not heard the real life story of Charles Schwab and Ivy Lee? Schwab was president of Bethlehem Steel. Lee, a consultant, was given the common challenge : “Show me a technique to get more things done with my time.” Schwab agreed to pay him “anything inside reason” if Lee’s idea worked.

Lee later gave the executive a sheet of paper with the plan:. Jot down the most crucial jobs you have got to do tomorrow.

When you arrive in the morning begin at once on number 1 and stay on it till it is finished.

Try it so long as you like, then send me your check for what you suspect it’s worth. That one idea turned Bethlehem Steel Company into the most important independent steel producer in the world inside 5 years. How much did Schwab pay his consultant? A few weeks after receiving the note, he sent Lee a check for $25,000, admitting it was actually the most lucrative lesson he had ever learned. I’d just blow it on another time-management book.