VALUE OF METHOD.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXIV, Issue 809, 8 July 1933, Page 24 (Supplement)

VALUE OF METHOD.

Plan out Your Programme for the Day. SAVING PRECIOUS MINUTES. “I meant to do it . . . but I hadn’t Itime.” This phrase occurred in a letter the other day, states an English writer. The thing that this lady tells me site had not time to do was. to my mind, of terrific importance. Her letter is of a confidential nature, so I may not divulge what it was. But it is sufficient to say that had she been at pains to attend to this particular item at : the right moment, all her troubles would have been nipped in the bud and endless worry, sleepless nights and heartache would have been saved. Make Time. I can imagine nothing more important in the whole routine of this woman’s day than, knowing what was happening, she should have taken means to avert this trouble. But no. She tells me she “hadn’t time”; so I can but believe her. But it occurred to me to ask, “why?” To hear some people talk, and explain, and apologise for their failure to do this.' that or the other thing, one w ould think that Time was handed out in most uufair and. unequal quantities. But it is not so. One man may have more money than another; a woman may have more clothes, a bigger family, a larger number of beautiful things than her neighbour. But you Cannot argue this way about Time. Twenty-Four Hours a Day. Often when I see women sitting quietly reading books which I long to read, getting on with important work, sewing fine seams, or mending their .husband's socks, I think to myself: “Lucky thing. You have lots of time!” None of these women, however. Inis a single moment more than I have. J hey may try to do less, or leave undone some of the things that I, probably quite wrongly, consider important. But when it comes to the point, all of them have exactly as much time as I have, namely, Twenty-four hours per day’ Have you ever counted up the time it takes you to look for things? Take, for instance, the question of letters, or b*lls. The other morning I went, to a friend’s house to discuss a new business f»ihe proposed to start. I was trying to help her. when we were interrupted by a man who had called to collect a bill which she disputed, declaring it had been paid months ago. . “We have no record of it., then,” said the man. “Can you show me your receipt?” “Certainly,” my friend said. “T know [ have it. somewhere. Just, wait.” Then ensued a hunt all over the house. Every bill that had been paid in years was taken out, inspected, then thrust back again, just anyhow, until the, tine enthusiasm with which we had been discussing the new business .was completely dissipated. By the time the receipt was found—oh, ‘yes, it had been paid—my friend was a wreck. But when I gently suggested that all this time could have been saved by merely having two spiked files, one for paid and one for unpaid bills. T was told: “Ob. but T am always much too busy for such fussiness. Anyhow. T am made this way, and I can’t help it. ’ Learnt Through Discipline. But I didn’t believe a word of it. Habits of tidiness can be learned through discipline. The ordinary woman no less than the big business man, needs a clear desk. Clutter spells incompetence; many women live in an eternal state of clutter. Yet if there is a lot to be done, a big family to look after, a business to be run, one cannot afford to be otherwise than orderly. “But I am tidy,” cries the average woman. “But I do all my own work, so how can I make time to read or play bridge or go to lectures?” One can only make time by saving it. There is seldom a day or a week to spare; but there are groups of minutes which can be organised and used to better advantage. There are. of course, many men ami women so tired at night that they can onlv slump in their chairs and. by resting make themselves fit for the next day’s work. I am not talking to them, but to the numbers of people who write to me bitterly dissatisfied with their present way of living, yet who sav they “haven’t ti‘me v for anything else. No Achievement Without Effort. I can only tell them that nothing can be achieved without effort, without severe self-discipline. They can train their minds to habits of concentration as they walk about; they can study or read worth-while books, in trains and buses; they can use their brains to capacity instead of, in hours of indolence, letting themselves run to seed. They can utilise minutes that at present are wasted, in sound constructive effort. They can rise early in the morning and get things forward. Cut out the non-essentials: edit the day’s activities; evolve a programme and stick to it. And somehow out of the working dav they will achieve that hour or two of leisure that properly used will help towards achieving the flow'er of their ambitions.