No sluggard need aspire to leadership. There are passive persons who are content to go through life getting lifts from people; who wait until action is forced upon them. They are not of leadership material.

Most people spend time like they do money. They spend until suddenly they run short; then they seek a way to compensate.

The best approach, of course, is a disciplined lifestyle that prevents time (or money) from slipping away in the first place. This is what most time management books teach: Adopt a philosophy, implement it, and then maintain it as a way of life.

But most people will never be that disciplined. What they need is an emergency checklist to gain a few hours in the week—something to ease the frantic pace, to get them through the crunch.

Occasionally a worn-out pastor comes to me, and I say, "You're under the gun, aren't you? How much time would it take for you to catch up?"

He usually says something like "If I just had five more hours a week!" If he is working fifty hours a ...