Page 8 - Time Management

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Preface

n the 1950s, as home and work chores became increasingly
Imechanized and as the electronics revolution hinted at an
even more startling efficiency to come, futurists made a bold
prediction: by the year 2000, the average person would work
only 20 or 30 hours a week. There would be so much leisure
time that most of us wouldn’t know what to do with it.
We now know that these ’50s oracles were wrong—very
wrong. Electronics and automation have sped up life so greatly
that, to keep up with the swift flood of tasks and info-bits, most
of us work more than 40 hours, not fewer, and have seen our
leisure time shrink away. The computer chip didn’t free us. It
forced us to produce at its speed.
So, we’re on a responsibility overload. Faxes, Federal
Express, and e-mail demand instant action. Computers and
laser printers pour out 50 personalized letters in minutes—
something that once took a secretary all day to do. Conse-
quently, our mailboxes and in-bins overflow with all sorts of
materials that clamor for our attention.
All this communication and the ease of travel mean that the
network of people you deal with has grown exponentially.
Indeed, you meet more people in one year than your grandpar-
ents did in a lifetime. No wonder so many of us have trouble
remembering names.
To make matters worse, you may have turned to a book on
time management for help before, one that argued (as most do)
that you must erect great, logic-based ramparts to hold off the
disorganized barbarians or super-efficient competitors out there.
The author may have suggested that within those barriers you

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