Today millions of Americans engage in a constant race against the clock. Urgency Addiction tells the story of how we got seduced into flying so fast that we could lose our very selves. It’s not about a personality quirk but a cultural force. My study of America’s obsession with speed took me back to our colonial roots in 17th-century Boston. In the process, I found a path not to better time management, but to the secret of how to enjoy our most precious possession: the time of our lives.
TThe Urgency Index: Test Yourself. Here is one of several tests in the book to help readers evaluate whether or not time pressures are a significant problem in their lives. YOUR SENSE OF SELF. Answer true or false to each question below:
1. I have no time for myself……………………………………………… _____
2. I tell myself that soon I’ll do what I really want to do……………… ______
3. I seldom daydream anymore………………………………………… ______
4. I’ve begun to feel that time is passing me by……………………….. ______
5. I rarely think about the meaning of life……………………………… ______
6. I haven’t set spiritual goals for my life……………………………… ______
7. I never relax outdoors just to watch the passing scene………………… ______
8. I rarely do anything on impulse, just for fun ..………………… …….. ______
9. I promise myself that I’ll take a real vacation soon…………………….. ______
10. I seldom ask myself if I’m happy……………………………………… ______
11. I often feel sleep-deprived……………………………………………. ______
12. If I had the time, I would read more books…………………… … … ______
Scoring key for Your Sense of Self: Add up the number of times you answered true. 1 to 3:
You don’t give yourself the time that you deserve. 4 to 8:
Your excessive sense of time urgency has caused damage to you. . 9 to 12:
You have deprived yourself of necessary time, which is self-destructive.
“Who gains time gains everything.”
“Nothing is ours, except time.”
“Do not squander Time, for that’s the Stuff Life is made of.”