One-Two-Three

By Philip Herrera

GETTING THINGS DONE by EDWIN C. BLISS 124 pages. Scribners. $6.95.

1) This book touches a sensitive nerve--how to make the most of available time. Though it is aimed primarily at businessmen who know they waste time and wish they didn't, its lessons apply to nearly everyone. One major cure for chronic time wasters, according to Edwin Bliss, a management consultant, is to write out lists setting priorities. Facing the truth tends to clarify things. Yes, indeed.

2) Bliss's style is terse, occasionally leavened by anecdote. Unlike C. Northcote Parkinson and Laurence J. Peter, Bliss's purpose is not amusing originality but utility. He is serious. He refers to his readers directly as "you." He has some sympathy for time wasted, but not much. After all, it's your life that is slipping away so irretrievably.

3) The author divides his work into alphabetical sections suitable for future reference. A is for Alcohol, for instance, B is for Bottlenecks, P:is for Clutter, etc. Cross references in the text link various subjects (see No. 5 below).

4) Naturally, the advice is always sound. Instead of taking a course in speed reading, Edwin suggests, read more selectively. Take breaks to change the tempo and ease the tension of work. Say no a lot, because "you cannot protect your priorities unless you learn to decline, tactfully but firmly, every request that does not contribute to your goal." One can fight procrastination, too, by (a) chopping up ominously large tasks into easily manageable small components; (b) listing the reasons for delay on one side of a piece of paper and the benefits from completing the job on the other--and then feel ashamed of your irrational lethargy; or (c) picking an important, if unpleasant, chore and completing it the first thing every day. According to Bliss, that will soon break the procrastinating habit.

5) The chances are good that successful people already know all this. The author is thus writing for the great mass of time wasters, fully aware that they probably will not be able to quit having an extra martini at lunch, much less complete their long-range or short-term goals. Still, as a writer's priority, a large audience for a book is not a bad one.

6) Bliss proves by example as well as precept that he is conscious of every minute. Reading time for his little book is about one hour--if one can spare the time.

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