I discovered Peter Drucker's body of work from references to it in leadership and business books some time ago. On beginning to read one of his classics for the first time, I quickly understood why he has been so influential through the years. Recently, I was "grazing" in my library and began to thumb through The Effective Executive. Drucker's thoughts on time claimed my attention once again, and they are worth sharing.
The supply of time is totally inelastic. No matter how high the demand, the supply will not go up. There is no price for it . . . . Time is totally perishable and cannot be stored. Yesterday's time is gone forever and will never come back. Time is, therefore, always in exceedingly short supply.
Time is totally irreplaceable. Within limits we can substitute one resource for another, copper for aluminum, for instance. We can substitute capital for human labor. We can use more knowledge or more brawn. But there is no substitute for time.Being effective and time management go hand in hand. As Drucker reminds us, time is a highly perishable resource. May we use the time that we have wisely as we work together for King and his kingdom.
