Time Management - Marc Mancini
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Power Tools for <strong>Time</strong> <strong>Management</strong> 133<br />
the project: about an hour and a half. These letters must<br />
get to their recipients soon, so you personally take them to<br />
the post office down the street to ensure promptness. Only<br />
a half hour for that. You’re proud of yourself: it’s only 11<br />
a.m. and you’ve completed one of the most important<br />
tasks of the day.<br />
Was that simple to imagine? Did something about it seem<br />
anachronistic? Oh, one thing we forgot to tell you—you<br />
were a secretary in 1950. If you’d done that task today, you<br />
would have typed the letter using a word processing program,<br />
corrected mistakes almost instantly, knocked off all 10 personalized<br />
copies in a few minutes, and then probably e-mailed or<br />
faxed the letter to ensure swift receipt. The whole process would<br />
have required a half hour or less, not two, and the results would<br />
look far more professional.<br />
In recent decades, a broad spectrum of tools has arrived<br />
that enable us to manage our time better. Some—like handheld<br />
electronic organizers, cell phones, pagers, fax machines, voicemail<br />
systems, photocopiers, personal computers, and even<br />
VCRs and microwave ovens—are the offspring of advanced<br />
technology. Others are clever, non-tech artifacts: sticky notes,<br />
hanging files, correction fluid. But, like all tools, time management<br />
gadgets function well only if they’re used properly.<br />
Five Essential Questions<br />
When choosing any time-saver, whether electronic or paperbased,<br />
ask yourself five questions:<br />
1. Do I need it?<br />
2. Do I need all its features?<br />
3. Is it user-friendly?<br />
4. How reliable is it?<br />
5. Will it become outmoded too quickly?<br />
By carefully considering your answers to these questions,<br />
you’ll be able to assess how useful the device will be to your<br />
time management style.