Time Management as a Tool

Excerpt: What Ben Franklin can teach execs (1)

Let others take the credit, set goals for the workday, and don't drink rum all day. And when your time-management fails, you're still better off for the attempt.

"THE MORNING," it began. "Question: What good shall I do this day?" Then he was to spend 5 through 7 a.m. rising, washing, and eating. More importantly, he was to "Contrive day's business, and take the resolution of the day..." In the evening, after his day's work, he was, among other things, to ask himself, "What good have I done today?"

This emphasis on setting goals for the day ahead and taking stock afterward remains a staple of time-management advice. (At least, so I'm told.) There's clearly something to it: I know that I'm far more likely to accomplish something when I have a well-defined to-do list for the day. But in a work world where conflicting, competing priorities are the norm, it's really hard to stick to such a list. Which is why most of us seldom get around to devising one.

Ben Franklin certainly didn't. As a small-businessman he had to jump at the whims of his customers. Also, his interests were so many that he struggled to keep track them all. "I found myself incorrigible with respect to Order," he admitted in the Autobiography. "But on the whole, tho' I never arrived at the perfection I had been so ambitious of attaining, but fell far short of it, yet I was, by the endeavour, a better and happier man ..."

Christians Can Take Lessons

I can take lessons from Ben Franklin.

First, letting others taking credit for something good you have done. I can see the value where you can gain friends, who can help you later with future activities. And the ultimate benefit is to be able to let go of celebrating victory to feed the ego, that one can be able to move on doing other good things.

Second, these are dangerous and precarious times for mankind. Christians need every hour of the day to spread the gospel of the Kingdom of God. So, the time management that Ben Franklin is advocating comes handy.

Third and last, what good attitude to have the feeling of accomplishment - doing several good things as you list them and be happy with some success, although short of perfection.


Source: (1) What Ben Franklin...By Justin Fox, FORTUNE editor-at-large | Published: March 9, 2006: