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Time Management
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What can you accomplish in five minutes? Sometimes,
important things: Five Minutes
• Return an e-mail.
• Make an appointment.
• Leave a voicemail message.
• Write a page of text.
• Create an agenda for a meeting.
• Research a point.
• Write a thank-you note.
• Locate a missing source.
• Ask a colleague a question you need the answer to.
• Read a short message.
• Clarify something you were unclear about.
Often, if you can promise yourself to devote the next five minutes
to a task, you’ll find that it stretches into 10 or 15 minutes and you
accomplish more than you thought you might when you began.

It’s hard to overcome cramming. You must convince your-
self that cramming is dangerous. And you must try all of the
strategies mentioned earlier—flowcharting, the measles
approach, dividing and conquering, and so on—to aid you in
your efforts.

Conclusion
One final thought. Procrastination can be profitable—for others.
Federal Express, fax machines, belated greeting cards, and
extended preholiday store hours are all examples of products or
services that make some of their money from procrastinators.
So, if procrastination is so common that businesses depend on
it for profit, it’s almost certain that you—if you’re not abnor-
mal—tend to procrastinate in some situations, at least. If you
can learn to control this very common tendency, you’ll have
taken a very large step toward using your time more effectively.