Chapter 17: Time Management: Making the Most Out of Every Moment

Guard well your spare moments. They are like uncut diamonds. Discard them and their value will never be known. Improve them and they will become the brightest gems in a useful life.

—Ralph Waldo Emerson,
philosopher and poet

What Is Time Management?

To many people, time management means segmenting their lives (especially their work lives) into little boxes, each box representing a certain number of minutes or hours. To me, time management means putting things into perspective. Think about the 4.5 billion years Earth has been in existence. Think about the 70-plus years the average person spends on Earth. Put into that perspective, we are here on Earth for the blink of an eye. We have much to accomplish in such a brief time.

Time management is learning to appreciate the value of every moment you have on Earth. Not every moment will be earth-shattering. There will be moments of excitement and depression, and quiet moments of introspection. But no moment should go to waste. You can't plan every moment of your life. But you can look at how you spend your moments and think about whether or not you are spending your time wisely—and if not, find ways to make necessary changes.

Managing time effectively means more than keeping a schedule and marking a calendar. It means being careful with your time, not careless. It means making value judgments about what you do at work and at home. It means making the choice to spend your time with people you care about. It means having a greater awareness of the world around and your place in it.

Time is the scarcest resource, and unless it is managed, nothing else can be managed.

—Peter F. Drucker,
writer and management consultant