Member-only story
Ten Lessons In Time Management — A Final Lecture From A Dying Professor
After computer science professor Randy Pausch got diagnosed with a terminal form of cancer, he shared his wisdom on time management in a last lecture
Being successful doesn’t make you manage your time well. Managing your time well makes you successful. — Randy Pausch
In 2006, time must have stood still for Randy Pausch, the moment he heard he had a terminal form of pancreatic cancer. With a remaining life expectancy of mere months, the computer science professor decided to get the most out of what time he had left on earth.
One of his final contributions to the world was the famous lecture on time management that he gave on November 27, 2007 at the University of Virginia. In his humorous address, Pausch jokingly introduced himself as an ‘authority to talk about what to do with limited time’. Given the circumstances he was in, it is hard to argue with that.
Prof. Pausch sadly passed away in 2008, but his lessons and impact are as relevant now as they were back then. In this article, I will summarize my ten main takeaways from his lecture.
1. Treat time as money
“Remember that time is money” — Benjamin Franklin
Most people would agree that time is a highly valuable commodity, but few treat it as such. When managing money, we are often able to allocate it in line with the things we find important in life. However, when it comes to managing our time and aligning it with our goals, we often do surprisingly poorly, wasting many hours on procrastination or tasks that contribute nothing to our objectives.
As we tend to handle money better than time, Pausch suggests to monetize our time, placing an hourly value on it and making decisions based on that number. Such a quantification allows for a deliberate time budget allocation, focusing on time utilization that maximizes positive impact and justifies outsourcing activities of lesser importance.
