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Power Tools for Time Management
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the project: about an hour and a half. These letters must
get to their recipients soon, so you personally take them to
the post office down the street to ensure promptness. Only
a half hour for that. You’re proud of yourself: it’s only 11
a.m. and you’ve completed one of the most important
tasks of the day.
as that simple to imagine? Did something about it seem
Wanachronistic? Oh, one thing we forgot to tell you—you
were a secretary in 1950. If you’d done that task today, you
would have typed the letter using a word processing program,
corrected mistakes almost instantly, knocked off all 10 person-
alized copies in a few minutes, and then probably e-mailed or
faxed the letter to ensure swift receipt. The whole process would
have required a half hour or less, not two, and the results would
look far more professional.
In recent decades, a broad spectrum of tools has arrived
that enable us to manage our time better. Some—like handheld
electronic organizers, cell phones, pagers, fax machines, voice-
mail systems, photocopiers, personal computers, and even
VCRs and microwave ovens—are the offspring of advanced
technology. Others are clever, non-tech artifacts: sticky notes,
hanging files, correction fluid. But, like all tools, time manage-
ment gadgets function well only if they’re used properly.

Five Essential Questions

When choosing any time-saver, whether electronic or paper-
based, ask yourself five questions:
1. Do I need it?
2. Do I need all its features?
3. Is it user-friendly?
4. How reliable is it?
5. Will it become outmoded too quickly?
By carefully considering your answers to these questions,
you’ll be able to assess how useful the device will be to your
time management style.