Saving Time by Asking Why   By Maria Gracia   of Get Organized Now!

Once upon a time, a child stood and watched her mother prepare the annual holiday ham. The mother carefully cut each end off the ham before placing it in the pan.

The child asked, "Mother, why do you always cut the ends off the ham?" The mother replied, "Well, that's the way my mother always did it."

So, the child called her grandmother and asked, "Grandma, why do you always cut the ends off the ham?"

The grandmother replied, "because that's the way my mother always did it."

Finally, the child called her great-grandmother and asked, "Great-Grandma, why do you always cut the ends off the ham?"

The great-grandmother replied, "Because the ham is way too big to fit in my baking pan!!" So, what's the moral of this story? Obviously, the mother and the grandmother were performing a system (cutting the ends off the ham), just because that's the way they thought it had to be done. Whereas, the only reason the great-grandmother was doing it, was because the ham couldn't fit in her pan!

So, what’s the point of this little story?

Many people perform many tasks in their day. There’s a very good chance, though, that they’ve never asked themselves why they’re performing these tasks. Or if they’re really necessary. Or if there may be a way to perform them better or in less time.

Continuously reevaluate your time and how you're using it, and chances are, you’ll be sure to find areas that could be streamlined or eliminated.

About the Author

Maria Gracia is President of Get Organized Now!.

Specializing in peak time and space management, she has over 12 years of organizational experience. Her broad range of skills covers planning, scheduling, peak productivity, records management, space planning, time and paper management, administrative services and computer oriented organizational systems.

Maria is the author of the book titled Finally Organized, Finally Free. In addition, she has written and published, T.A.S.O., the art of Time And Space Organization Newsletter, Better Business and a number of other informational products. Her works are enjoyed by individual consumers, small businesses and large companies such as the Walt Disney Company, Dell Computer Corporation, Microsoft Corporation and Metropolitan Life.

Maria provides solutions to help you organize your business, personal, home and family life with ease -- one solution at a time. You can contact her via e-mail : getorgnow@aol.com


Copyright © 1999 Get Organized Now.  All Rights Reserved. Re-Printed with permission.

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