================  Time Management -- Inspirational Messages  =============          
                        by  M.D. Smith  --  Huntsville, AL
----------------------------------------------------------------------------          

"Time is the inexplicable raw material of everything. With it, all is 
possible; without it, nothing. The supply of time is truly a daily 
miracle, an affair genuinely astonishing when one examines it.

You wake up in the morning, and lo! your purse is magically filled with
twenty-four hours of the unmanufactured tissue of the universe of your 
life!  It is yours. It is the most precious of possessions.....

You have to live on this twenty-four hours of daily time. Out of it you
have to spin health, pleasure, money, content, respect, and use, is a 
matter of the highest urgency and of the most thrilling actuality. 
All depends on that.  Your happiness....depends on that....

We never shall have any more time. We have, and we have always had,
all the time there is."
                                           ARNOLD BENNETT
------------------------------------------------------[more]----------


"Know the true value of time. Snatch, seize and enjoy every moment of 
it.  No idleness, no laziness, no procrastination.  Never put off 
till tomorrow what you can do today. "
                                    Lord Chesterfield


This is very good advice. Sometimes we look at a big project  and don't
know where to get started. Often this delays the start and the finish 
of the job.  The old Chinese Proverb states that a trip of a thousand 
miles begins with the first step.  Often when we take the first few 
steps the job looks smaller than it first did. Set out the things to 
be done in order of importance. Then, no matter how big the first item 
appears, jump right in and get started.  This way, the only things you
put off until tomorrow are the truly lesser things to be done. The 
important things will get done today.


------------------------------------------------------[more]----------


"YOU WILL NEVER "FIND" TIME FOR ANYTHING.
 IF YOU WANT TIME YOU MUST MAKE IT."

                                          Charles Buxton



-------------------------------------------------------[more]--------


"MOST TIME IS WASTED, NOT IN HOURS, BUT IN MINUTES.
 A BUCKET WITH A SMALL HOLE IN THE BOTTOM GETS 
 JUST AS EMPTY AS A BUCKET THAT IS KICKED OVER."


                                                 Paul Meyer


If we are really careful of every minute in the day, it is amazing how
many little minutes can add up. If we are determined to `make time' to
get things done that we want to do...we can do it. By keeping a time 
log, minute by minute, we will see where all those precious little 
minutes are leaking out of the bucket....until it is empty...the day 
is gone.

Examine your time log carefully and you will discover what you need to 
do to have the extra time each day that you want. 


---------------------------------------------------------[more]-------


"He slept beneath the Moon,
   He basked beneath the Sun;
 He lived a life of going-to-do,
   And died with nothing done."

                                    James Albery


It's a simple fact that the "road to HE-- is paved with good 
intentions." To be effective time-managers we have to have direction 
and motion.  Yes, we have to have a road-map....usually in the form 
of a `TO-DO' List.  This provides us with the schedule of events to 
be done in order of importance. Once we have the `road-map'(To-Do List),
we have to get into motion and ... GET THINGS DONE !    
Effective time management is as simple....or as hard as that. 


--------------------------------------------------------------[more]------


"A man that is young in years may be old in hours, 
 if he has lost no time."

                                   BACON

--------------------------------------------------------------[more]-------


"If time be of all things the most precious, wasting time must be the 
greatest prodigality, since lost time is never found again; and what 
we call time enough always proves little enough. Let us then be up and
doing, and doing to the purpose; so by diligence shall we do more 
with less perplexity."

                                       Benjamin Franklin


Old Ben had a lot of wise sayings. Many of them dealt with effective 
use of time. He accomplished quite a bit in his life-time. The reason 
is that he was always busy...but not just busy-work....busy with a 
purpose. He stayed busy with life, with inventions, with learning, 
with making life better for mankind.

Perhaps none of us will ever be a Franklin, but we can certainly 
pattern our use of time after him. Tackle each job with enthusiasm 
and vigor. Time will fly by, but much will also be accomplished. 


---------------------------------------------------------[more]-----


"WORK EXPANDS SO AS TO FILL THE TIME AVAILABLE."

                                    Parkinson's Law

It is true of a great many people that given a 5-hour task and 8-hours 
in which to complete it...the task will take 8 hours. If not the first 
few days, before too many days have passed.  Many people stay busy all 
day long, but do not get very much done because they are allowing 
non-important work or details to use the time available. If we make a 
habit of timing each project and trying to get it to fit into a shorter
time frame, we can usually do it. Thus, have time to do other jobs that
need doing. Sometimes it is very healthy to be pushed to complete a 
far greater quantity of work than before. If you are able to do it, 
you may find that some trivial things did not get done. Maybe these 
trivial little things should never get done...or at least done as a 
quick bunch job.  Remembering that all of us are subject to Parkinson's
Law, we all must remain on guard so that we don't fall prey and thus 
limit our accomplishments.

*****************************[ End of Messages ]*************************