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Organizing Your
Mind
Chapter 7 You Can Find TIME for Everything 'Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that is the stuff life is made of.' Benjamin Franklin There is a lot of good advice in this chapter in which I don't know if there is any better way to say it than the way Harry Lorayne has written it. We are all definitely born equal; "Nobody has more time than you have and nobody has less. No one can inherit time---or keep it in a bank to gather interest." "An hour contains sixty minutes no matter who is using it. And even knowing the "right' people cannot get you more than twenty-four hours per day." The only way to save time is to spend it wisely. Invest your time properly by improving yourself mentally and physically. I'm sure you have heard it before, " but it seems that if you give a job to a busy person they always seem to have time to do the job." A busy person can't afford to get behind in their work, so by doing one task at a time each chore is taken care of. This brings us back to that word 'organization' again. It takes organization to accomplish your goals. So what Lorayne says we need to address is procrastination which is another word for indecision. He feels that more time is wasted and more opportunities are lost because of indecision. Lorayne believes, "You are far better off making mistakes than not making decisions." He thinks most procrastinators are afraid to make a decision. "You've got two courses to take; you're not sure which is the better one, so you put off the decision." "The thing to do is take either one, but take it NOW. Take the first step in ANY direction. Once you're involved or in motion, you travel on momentum--you'll get something done. Remember that the longer you take to make a decision, the closer you get to making no decision at all. You're avoiding one. And even if your decision is the wrong one, you can correct it. If your choice was wrong, you'll correct it, and then take the remaining choice. At least you won't have to decide anymore." You've heard the saying,"Don't sweat the small things"? Well Lorayne believes when it comes to unimportant decisions, go with the simplest one. For example, concerning money, decide what your limit is and then buy within that limit. Say it is $5 that you have decided on, if you are looking at two things and one is $5 more and you like it then just buy it , don't waste time trying to decide. We need to invest our time in the important decisions. Don't be like the animal trainer who spent years teaching a camel to walk backward and found out people really couldn't care less if it could or not. If you haven't got anything better to do and you like the time you spend on something then go ahead. If you have better things to do then use your time wisely. "If you have a goal in mind, do something about it. Don't wait too long for the "right" time, because it rarely comes. In most cases, the time is NOW. Instead of taking valuable time to fret about whether you should do something, (or) worry about HOW to do it --- just do it! If it doesn't work out right--well, at least it's off your mind, (as long as you don't fret that it doesn't work, that wastes time too) and you can give your attention to something else. Cervantes, paraphrase, "you're traveling the streets of 'by and by' which lead to the house of 'never'." If you are wasting time on an idea, write it down and go on to something else, you can always come back to that thought after you have accomplished something. If you are always behind in your chores, then there are probably two main reasons for this. One is you are doing too much or the other is you are very disorganized. Lorayne suggests,"if you have a lot to do, do the things that can wait, first and then do the urgent ones." He thinks that if you know you have something that is urgent that needs to be done, you will do the less important ones faster. Many people would say, 'do the urgent ones first, then the less important'. I think it depends on the person, if you are the type that works better under pressure then do it as Harry stated. He says, "Although you may constantly complain that you have no time, you always find time for the things you're really interested in, the things you want to do." He suggests you "get yourself interested in the things you feel you should do and you'll do 'em." Meaning, I believe, that if you make an effort to like what you have to do, it will be easier. Someone once said, "Lose an hour in the morning and you will be all day seeking it." "It's just as easy to get out of bed the first time the alarm rings as it is to set for another five or ten minutes." So start things on time. Once you are in the habit of starting things on time, you should make it a practice to allow a little more time for any particular thing that you think necessary. Eg.. If you think it will take an hour, allow yourself one hour and fifteen minutes, at least. Then if the chore really only takes an hour, you can start your next chore earlier and have your, "cushion" at the beginning of the next job." If you give yourself that 'cushion' you won't feel so rushed and you could eventually end up with an hour or more of extra time a day. Also make sure you schedule recreation time into your days. John Wanamaker (an innovative department store owner) once said, "People who cannot find time for recreation are obliged sooner or later to find time for illness." As Harry Lorayne believes, "plan and organize your time to meet the requirements of any given activity....any activity is a better recreation than just loafing... the busier you are the more leisure you'll have!" "Don't let yesterday use up too much of today." Will Rogers (humorist, actor, etc.) "Use today's allotment of time for today or for planning for tomorrow --- yesterday had it's chance." "The greatest of all sacrifices is the sacrifice of time!" Plutarch (Greek historian) Patricia Downing |
