Time Management - Marc Mancini
Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
The Art of Anticipating 95<br />
• They keep light bulbs in their homes to replace bulbs as<br />
soon as they burn out.<br />
• They have emergency plans in place, should their homes<br />
be hit by a power outage or a disaster.<br />
• They take reading material with them to the doctor’s<br />
office. (That way, they don’t waste time reading Modern<br />
Podiatry, The Journal of Gastroenterology, or whatever<br />
else lies about the waiting room.)<br />
If you found that eight or more of these behaviors apply to<br />
you, you excel at intercepting problems before they occur. If<br />
you identified with four or fewer, however, you need to work at<br />
your ability to think ahead. You’re currently at the mercy of the<br />
unexpected—and probably get quite stressed when things don’t<br />
go as they should.<br />
There are a number of areas where a solid ability to anticipate<br />
pays off. A more focused awareness of these categories<br />
can help you become more able to preempt setbacks.<br />
The Parking Meter Syndrome<br />
This must be your lucky day! You need to pick up that new<br />
laser printer you ordered at Eddie’s Electronics Emporium. And<br />
there, right in front of Eddie’s, is a parking space. You screech<br />
your car into the spot before someone else sees it. You pull out<br />
a handful of quarters and drop one into the meter. That gives<br />
you 15 minutes, which should be just about enough time to<br />
pick up the printer.<br />
You go in, but there’s only one salesperson working and two<br />
customers are already in line ahead of you. You browse—there<br />
are so many neat gadgets here. In no time, it seems, someone<br />
is ready to retrieve your order. But they can’t find it. You wait.<br />
Your printer is finally discovered. You hand over your credit<br />
card. The approval takes a while to come through. Finally, the<br />
transaction completed, you head out to your car.<br />
And there, on your windshield, is a $50 parking ticket. You<br />
check your watch and find out that the “quick in and out” has