Winning the War for Time
Fred Smith Sr.
Leaders are not impetuous. They keep a balance between emotional drive and sound thinking. Enthusiasm stimulates their energy. A short battle for time can be won with the techniques of the previous chapter. But you can only win the war with a philosophical base. You have to face such questions as "Why do I want to get more out of time? Is it my fear of God or judgment? Is it because I want to become famous or make money? Am I part of a peer group that always seems busy? What's the real reason to squeeze more into my days and weeks?" These days, haste has become almost a status symbol. People assume, If I'm busier than you are, I must be more important. They don't wait for planes to stop before they're up grabbing coats and carry-on luggage. They drive their cars aggressively, trying to get someplace thirty seconds sooner. I was in a cafeteria recently, and a fellow was trying to get past me to the cashier. I could tell I was supposed to be impressed with the fact he was so busy. Maybe I've missed something, but I always thought if you were successful, you had more time, not less. That's why they used to call the wealthy "the leisure class." In fact, the ancient Greeks made a great case for succeeding in life, reasoning that only those with leisure could think about ideas, which was, after all the highest calling, the mark of true achievement. But these days, as Donald Bloesch puts it, "busyness is the new holiness." Lack of time is a status symbol, and that, to me, is backwards. If you really are somebody, you are in control of your time. What, then, ought to be our approach to time? Do we assume that time is meant to be used to the fullest (a very American idea)? We need to know what we're after if we're going to win the war ...
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