August 21st, 2008

By Benjamin Franklin and Dr Agon Fly

Father Abraham continues: “If time be of all things the most precious, wasting time must be, as Poor Richard says, the greatest prodigality;

Like most seekers in their thirties, I devoured books, articles and training programs that could help me grow and prosper. In 1975 – or thereabouts – I discovered a timeless treasure in Alan Lakein’s book ‘How to Get Control of Your Time and Your Life.’ I adopted the principles and practices the book advised, and adapted them to my life and lifestyle. I created a training program for my employees and clients based on the ideas in the book. I was convinced that Alan Lakein had discovered eternal truths.

A few years later I discovered ‘The Way to Wealth.’ Surprise: 225 years earlier Dr Benjamin Franklin had not only known of these ideas but had also written about them. When Father Abraham begins the discussion of time management it is with the premise that the ineffective use of time is a failing so great that it is the greatest failing a person can allow themselves.

As he continues his dissertation, the first principle Father Abraham lays out is

“since, as he elsewhere tells us, Lost time is never found again;

Lost money can be regained. Lost opportunity can be regained. Lost sales become lessons learned and future sales. Lost time – be it seconds, minutes, hours, days or longer – is gone forever. Every culture, every age and every spiritual tradition recognizes the value of time. Living in the present moment isn’t a Buddhist idea or a Christian mystical teaching or the wisdom of the ancient Greeks, Hindus or Jews. It is the common sense that Father Abraham captured in a few short words: “Lost time is never found again.”

Father Abraham continues again with sage words that anyone who ever tried to complete a complex project on schedule can relate to:

“and what we call time enough, always proves little enough.

My working career started in 1965 as a computer programmer for a large corporation. My first assignment was to learn a ‘symbolic language’ that would let me talk to an IBM 1460 computer. I went to a computer language school for a week and returned confident that I could handle any programming challenge that was thrown at me.

As soon as I returned to my desk at work the boss handed me a small payroll reporting program that one of the HR folks wanted. My boss reassured me that “It should only take you a few hours to code it. You can get it compiled into a language that the computer can understand overnight and have it running tomorrow.”

That was Monday morning. Fast forward to Thursday morning and the distinct possibility that I would be summarily dismissed for gross incompetence. The ‘few hours’ turned into about 40 and the program simply defied every attempt at being ‘compiled.’ I was downhearted, thought myself a complete failure and was ready to take my lumps.

I and my boss were, however, in for a surprise. One of the more senior programmers offered to look over my code and help me get it right. After a few minutes the senior programmer burst out laughing. I was certain he was about to ridicule me out of existence but instead he gave me hug. “Jeff’s logic is impeccable” he told us, “and his code is elegant.” We were puzzled. What’s wrong, then, we wondered. “The only problem is” he continued laughing so hard he had tears in his eyes, “you sent Jeff to the wrong language school.”

www.YouBeTheBank.com

______________________________

Bookmark To: