Gary North

As part of my continuing self-education program, I am re-reading all of the books I own written by management guru Peter Drucker. It is a shelf of books.

Drucker died in November, 2005, at the age of 96 -- a few days away from 97. His first book appeared in 1933. He was writing almost until the end. He is one of my two models for writing. The other is Jacques Barzun.

There is a brief summary of a few of his main ideas, plus a list of his best-known books, here:

I have read The Effective Executive. It has many good ideas in it, but this one stands out. An effective executive finds out how he spends his time.

Most executives think they know, but they don't. A wise one has his secretary monitor the time he spends on the phone and on other projects for a week. Then he examines what he actually did. Always, he finds that minor tasks eat up the bulk of his time.

This is inescapable, Drucker says. But an effective executive finds ways to set aside an hour or two of uninterrupted time each day in order to deal with crucial projects. If he doesn't do this, the minor interruptions will destroy his effectiveness. Blocks of time are mandatory for dealing with major problems: concentrated thinking.

He says that an executive should re-examine his actual time schedule twice a year. Otherwise, the time-waters will creep back in.

Do you know where your time really goes? Find out.