TW: Pausch, prof at Carnegie Mellon, received tremendous publicity both before and after his death due to the way he handled his pending demise. For those of you who did not get a chance to follow his story this piece is a nice summary.
From Business Week:
" 'You can always make more money later,' Randy would say. 'But you can't make more time."'Time, like money, he explained, must be explicitly managed.
He had all sorts of practical advice for work. Stand while on the phone. (You'll be more eager to finish up.) Avoid copying five people on an e-mail when you want something done. (Each will assume that one of the other four is going to step up to the plate.) Minimize interruptions. (Turn off the 'new e-mail' popup alert or shut down e-mail during your good working hours.)
Other tips were reminders of the big picture.
Do the "ugliest" thing first—everything else will come more easily after that. Make time for the important things, not just for critical things; it is all too easy to spend time fighting fires rather than doing the necessary deep thinking. And recognize that the best reason to save time in your work is to increase time with your family.
'If I don't do X, will it matter? And if I have to pick either X or Y, which one is more important? At the end of my life, which of these things will I be glad I did?' Time is all we have. And, like Randy, we may find one day we have less than we think.
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/08_34/b4097071831085.htm
The lecture (7.2MM hits when I pulled it)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji5_MqicxSo
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