Introduction
Why Are You Reading This Book?
You’re probably reading this book because you think you
don’t have enough time in your life. And you probably
think you can fix this problem if you can just become more
efficient.
If that’s the way you feel, then close this book, take
it back to the store, and get a refund. I can’t help
you. You see, this is not a book about becoming more efficient
at what you are doing now. There are books on time management
to help organize your life. Go get one of them.
The truth is, you are already efficient at what you are doing!
You don’t need more time to do the same things you are
doing now. You need to do different things in order to have
more time in your life!
If you are a typical person reading this book, you sense you
are in trouble. You have over-scheduled your life and the lives
of your children. You can’t seem to get ahead. You can’t
even seem to keep up. You reach the end of each day completely
exhausted, stressed out, and dreading another day, another
month, another year of this frenzied existence.
Yet, you are part of the most productive, most efficient workforce
that ever inhabited this planet. You have technology at your
fingertips, convenience foods to prepare, entertainment in
your
living room, and 24-hour access to the world via the World
Wide Web.
You are doing everything at the speed of light. You have voicemail,
e-mail, instant messaging and downloadable movies. You don’t
have to wait for anything.
And you thought I would teach you how to do all this stuff
faster? No way.
Not Time Management? Then What Is This Book About?
I am going to teach you to overcome Time Poverty. I define
Time Poverty like this:
When you don’t have the time
to do the things
you really WANT to do, because you are too busy
doing the things you think you HAVE to do.
Let me repeat that, so it really sinks in:
Time Poverty is: When you don’t
have the time to
do the things you really WANT to do, because you
are too busy doing the things you think you HAVE to do.
When we think of poverty, we usually think in terms of financial
poverty. But unlike financially poor people who don’t
have money, Time-Poor people do have time. Remember, everyone
gets the same 24 hours each day.
You will learn to overcome Time Poverty in this book.
I will teach you a simple 5-step system to get out of this
rat race by getting off the Fast Track at work. You will learn
how to reconnect with the important people in your life. You
will learn to live fully, and teach other people to do the
same.
Two Concepts to Remember as You Read This Book: LifeTimers
and Time Equity
I was recently talking to my daughter. “I am
having trouble coming up with a good word to describe people’s
lifetime for my book,” I told her. “I want to show
readers how their time is
always running. They need to use it, or lose it!”
“I am reading a book that has something like that in
it,” she said. “They have a big hourglass with
no bottom on it. It’s called a LifeTimer.”
Wow! That was the clue I needed. And, it explained why so
many people are living in Time Poverty. They think their lives
are like an hourglass, rather than like a LifeTimer.
Look at the two pictures below. One of them, the traditional
hourglass, is how most people measure their time. They spend
their time by the hour. They go to work and trade their time:
an hour’s work for an hour’s pay.
But your LifeTimer is different. Unlike an hourglass, when
the sands of time run through your LifeTimer, that sand is
gone forever. You can’t turn the glass over. And, unlike
the hourglass,
you don’t know how much time you have in your LifeTimer.
Time-Rich people know they have a LifeTimer. They use their
time as it runs out of the glass. They can’t save it.
They can’t get any more of it. They need to use it minute-by-minute.
If you spend your time working for money, you can’t
use your time for anything else. However, if you put your money
to work for you, you can use your time for whatever you want!
As you’ll
see, that is one of the secrets to overcoming Time Poverty.
Time Equity
In order to overcome Time Poverty, you have to understand another
simple, but very powerful concept called Time Equity. Equity
is something you own. We will discuss different types of
equity in this book. You can create equity, or it can be given
to you. In either case, it is yours.
Time Equity is the total of all the time you own. We all own
time, from the moment we are born. It doesn’t matter
if you are born wealthy or poor. You own your time.
Throughout this book, you’ll hear me say you should
not trade your Time Equity for dollars, but use your Time Equity
to create other kinds of equity. You can then let that equity
create dollars!
You see folks, it isn’t just time that’s running
out of your LifeTimer, it’s Time Equity. Save more time
for your life, and spend less time on your work. If you trade
something besides time for dollars, you have more dollars and
more time!
What’s Next?
Overcoming Time Poverty is divided into two parts, Time Games
and How to Create a Time-Rich Life. You’ll find a brief
summary at the beginning of each section.
Speaking of the beginning, are you ready to get started?
Time’s up! Let’s go! |
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