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The Art of Time
Opinion polls show that people complain more about a lack of time than a lack of money, greenery, or freedom. Could this be the evil of our era? Jean-Louis Servan-Schreiber wrote those words in his original 1984 edition of The Art of Time, but they are just as true in our new techno-congested millennium. Now fully revised and updated, with a new chapter on time in the 21st century, Servan-Schreiber's elegant treatise illuminates the causes of our frequent misuse of time and offers a key to unlocking the "why" behind people's busy schedules. His goal is to incite readers to rediscover their true needs and priorities and begin to live their time instead of simply spending it.
138 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1983
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105 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
December 29, 2015
Not quite a 3 in my book, but not worthy of a 1. There were parts, individual concepts and prose/ideas in this book that I quite enjoyed. I just found them a little too sparse; spaced out; and independent (i.e. not crafted into an overall structure); for my liking.
I also think this book is somewhere between the authors musing on time and their attempt at providing some implementable tips to master time management. The later of which I didn't find well structured; nor revolutionary; and again simply a first hand account of what has worked well for Jean-Louis. Definitely some insights in this book, both on interpreting and reflecting on time (i.e. swap out time for life in many key time phrases); and on time management practices (i.e. spend your first 30 min planning your day and developing a dashboard / spend your evening reflecting on "Did I use my time efficiently today?). But for me, maybe it just felt a little unrefined with an end product that I'm not sure is a complete time management book nor a psychology/philosophy book.
Worst case scenario, at 135 pages its a quick read.
I also think this book is somewhere between the authors musing on time and their attempt at providing some implementable tips to master time management. The later of which I didn't find well structured; nor revolutionary; and again simply a first hand account of what has worked well for Jean-Louis. Definitely some insights in this book, both on interpreting and reflecting on time (i.e. swap out time for life in many key time phrases); and on time management practices (i.e. spend your first 30 min planning your day and developing a dashboard / spend your evening reflecting on "Did I use my time efficiently today?). But for me, maybe it just felt a little unrefined with an end product that I'm not sure is a complete time management book nor a psychology/philosophy book.
Worst case scenario, at 135 pages its a quick read.
July 10, 2009
Why I Read this Book: Time is the most valuable asset to any human being. There is so much written about dealing with all other assets in our lives. I wanted to get started mastering what really counts; my time.
Review:
Every once in a while you read a book that just does it for you. It takes the topic at hand and delivers it in a way you could not have imagined. The Art of Time absolutely nails it. When we think about it, there is not anything more valuable and precious to us as humans than the time we have to spend our days. Servan-Schreiber lays out the hours and minutes of our days as an art that truly can be mastered. By nailed it, I mean he starts from a very high level of general thoughts on time management and what time really means to us and he drills into the very aspects of our life that tend to drain away our time the most. Once these are made obvious to the reader, it is then, that he or she can start to work on improving upon those points. This book not only provided a moment of enlightenment for me but has and will serve as a guide to taking the time in my life and turning it into the time of my life. ?
The Art of Time was recommended to me by a long-time business mentor of mine who I respect dearly. Just recently I was in his office having a discussion about the progression of his new book. We got to talking about reading and I asked him what books he might recommend. This is a question I am sure to ask all successful men and women with whom I come in contact. I recommend this as a best practice to everyone. Invariably behind every successful person is an office or library full of books that helped him or her get there. What better people to ask for book recommendations than from the people who have clearly reaped their benefits. Upon asking this man his recommendations, he quickly turned to his book shelf and pulled out a little green book. He said, “Scott, this was given to me by my father and it was not until just recently that I finally read it. It is the most valuable book I have read to this day.” I had the book finished by the following week. How could I not?
The author touches on so many relevant points that perfectly resonate with the reader almost as if the book was written for you, the reader, specifically. It is written in a way that is very congruent to the ideals of time management with short, concise and digestible chapters. When it comes down to it, our time is really just made up of the perception we give it. After all in the eyes of some, time does not exist but was a system to maintain order. Once we can get a hold of the proper perception of what we call time, the wind will be at our backs.
We all have the same amount of time in our days and every one of our moments has a direct cost associated with it. Servan-Schreiber suggests that we as individuals must stop making our decisions based upon the mundane concept of money, which is a renewable asset, and instead weight our lifetime and everyday decisions based upon the one asset in our lives that is not renewable; time. It seems obvious to me now, but is that not how it always goes?
After touching on Servan-Schreiber’s developed theory of the art of time, he then goes into the specific things in our lives that have the great potential to waste away our time if not used properly. He spends ample time discussing cell phones, email and the Internet. I do not think any of us need to read a book to know that we spend much too much time doing the above three things. They have taken away from the more valuable and enriching aspects of our lives such as reading and spending time with the people we love and care about. Many of us think that the cell phone, Internet and email have allowed us to do these things better and more efficiently. There still is not and never will be a good substitute for sitting down by yourself with a good book or a good friend and opening yourself up. So often do we forget that.
The final concept I would like to mention before suggesting you go out and read the rest from the source, is the idea of journaling. Only weeks before reading this book, a highly respected colleague of mine introduced me to the great power of keeping journals of all one’s thoughts. Then weeks later, The Art of Time made it that much more real. Journaling has been so powerful to a number of the great minds of our world’s history. Einstein, Davinci, Edison; they all kept journals. ?
Servan-Schreiber recommends keeping a journal every day that contains your thoughts, dreams, frustrations, desires and everything else that goes through your mind. It is only once you get these thoughts out of your mind that you can really begin to see what they mean. I used to think that going through thoughts in my head was enough, but I cannot believe what I’ve learned about my self since I have poured those thoughts on paper. If there is only one thing that is taken away from this book, I believe it should be the power of journaling. It will serve you for life and start you off in the direction of living and understanding the time of your life instead of losing the time in your life. ?
As success-oriented individuals, we should all know that the one thing we cannot get enough of is time. Time to live, time to love, time to learn and time to succeed. The startling thing is, the one resource that we will never have as much of as we did yesterday is the time in our life. Yet how many of us actually spend the time to understand time and how to best use it to our advantage? Confusing, I know. Jean-Louis has given us the tools to master the art of time. Those of you who read it will see that he has found some of the most valuable techniques to seize every day. I will end with a question that each of you should now be able to answer. When is now a good time to read a book like this?
Review:
Every once in a while you read a book that just does it for you. It takes the topic at hand and delivers it in a way you could not have imagined. The Art of Time absolutely nails it. When we think about it, there is not anything more valuable and precious to us as humans than the time we have to spend our days. Servan-Schreiber lays out the hours and minutes of our days as an art that truly can be mastered. By nailed it, I mean he starts from a very high level of general thoughts on time management and what time really means to us and he drills into the very aspects of our life that tend to drain away our time the most. Once these are made obvious to the reader, it is then, that he or she can start to work on improving upon those points. This book not only provided a moment of enlightenment for me but has and will serve as a guide to taking the time in my life and turning it into the time of my life. ?
The Art of Time was recommended to me by a long-time business mentor of mine who I respect dearly. Just recently I was in his office having a discussion about the progression of his new book. We got to talking about reading and I asked him what books he might recommend. This is a question I am sure to ask all successful men and women with whom I come in contact. I recommend this as a best practice to everyone. Invariably behind every successful person is an office or library full of books that helped him or her get there. What better people to ask for book recommendations than from the people who have clearly reaped their benefits. Upon asking this man his recommendations, he quickly turned to his book shelf and pulled out a little green book. He said, “Scott, this was given to me by my father and it was not until just recently that I finally read it. It is the most valuable book I have read to this day.” I had the book finished by the following week. How could I not?
The author touches on so many relevant points that perfectly resonate with the reader almost as if the book was written for you, the reader, specifically. It is written in a way that is very congruent to the ideals of time management with short, concise and digestible chapters. When it comes down to it, our time is really just made up of the perception we give it. After all in the eyes of some, time does not exist but was a system to maintain order. Once we can get a hold of the proper perception of what we call time, the wind will be at our backs.
We all have the same amount of time in our days and every one of our moments has a direct cost associated with it. Servan-Schreiber suggests that we as individuals must stop making our decisions based upon the mundane concept of money, which is a renewable asset, and instead weight our lifetime and everyday decisions based upon the one asset in our lives that is not renewable; time. It seems obvious to me now, but is that not how it always goes?
After touching on Servan-Schreiber’s developed theory of the art of time, he then goes into the specific things in our lives that have the great potential to waste away our time if not used properly. He spends ample time discussing cell phones, email and the Internet. I do not think any of us need to read a book to know that we spend much too much time doing the above three things. They have taken away from the more valuable and enriching aspects of our lives such as reading and spending time with the people we love and care about. Many of us think that the cell phone, Internet and email have allowed us to do these things better and more efficiently. There still is not and never will be a good substitute for sitting down by yourself with a good book or a good friend and opening yourself up. So often do we forget that.
The final concept I would like to mention before suggesting you go out and read the rest from the source, is the idea of journaling. Only weeks before reading this book, a highly respected colleague of mine introduced me to the great power of keeping journals of all one’s thoughts. Then weeks later, The Art of Time made it that much more real. Journaling has been so powerful to a number of the great minds of our world’s history. Einstein, Davinci, Edison; they all kept journals. ?
Servan-Schreiber recommends keeping a journal every day that contains your thoughts, dreams, frustrations, desires and everything else that goes through your mind. It is only once you get these thoughts out of your mind that you can really begin to see what they mean. I used to think that going through thoughts in my head was enough, but I cannot believe what I’ve learned about my self since I have poured those thoughts on paper. If there is only one thing that is taken away from this book, I believe it should be the power of journaling. It will serve you for life and start you off in the direction of living and understanding the time of your life instead of losing the time in your life. ?
As success-oriented individuals, we should all know that the one thing we cannot get enough of is time. Time to live, time to love, time to learn and time to succeed. The startling thing is, the one resource that we will never have as much of as we did yesterday is the time in our life. Yet how many of us actually spend the time to understand time and how to best use it to our advantage? Confusing, I know. Jean-Louis has given us the tools to master the art of time. Those of you who read it will see that he has found some of the most valuable techniques to seize every day. I will end with a question that each of you should now be able to answer. When is now a good time to read a book like this?
February 17, 2016
Very interesting, but once again, written by someone in management who can choose their hours and what projects they work one. For once I'd like to read a book about time written by someone with kids and a job that requires doing what the job demands with little room for delegating.
August 3, 2016
I own the Norwegian translation, which is not recognized by Goodreads. The original is in French.
This is one of many books about how to become more effective, how to use our time better. It is easy to read and quite motivating. However, most of us will probably find out after a while that we don't really want to be so effective, that we prefer an unstructured life, because we don't really have that high ambitions and we like a life with small surprises in it. Certainly that is the case for me. The book did not change my life, although it was an interesting read. I already didn't watch TV, which is revealed as the main thief of time in the modern age. The book was written before the computer revolution, much less the Internet and the smartphone, so today's reader will find it less relevant. But the underlying principles still hold, and it is an excellent start if you feel you wish to accomplish more with less flailing.
This is one of many books about how to become more effective, how to use our time better. It is easy to read and quite motivating. However, most of us will probably find out after a while that we don't really want to be so effective, that we prefer an unstructured life, because we don't really have that high ambitions and we like a life with small surprises in it. Certainly that is the case for me. The book did not change my life, although it was an interesting read. I already didn't watch TV, which is revealed as the main thief of time in the modern age. The book was written before the computer revolution, much less the Internet and the smartphone, so today's reader will find it less relevant. But the underlying principles still hold, and it is an excellent start if you feel you wish to accomplish more with less flailing.
April 18, 2019
Un petit peu d'aide pour ma vie grâce aux livres gratuits de la ville de Montréal.
.........................
Deuxième lecture. Ce livre a quelque chose qui me calme, qui me fait penser que je peux tout faire.
.........................
Deuxième lecture. Ce livre a quelque chose qui me calme, qui me fait penser que je peux tout faire.
August 16, 2019
Gracias a este libro he aprendido muchísimas cosas. Siempre me he considerado una persona desorganizada, sintiendo constantemente que perdía mi tiempo, que no hacía con él lo que quería y que no decidía por mi misma.
Es el típico libro que tengo cerca para cuando siento que me pierdo en mi desorganización volver a él, releer lo subrayado y seguir adelante con solo un vistazo por encima de sus páginas.
Lo recomiendo, incluso a gente que tenga miedo a la muerte, pues es una manera de saber que estarás aprovechando tu vida tal cual quieres hacerlo en todo momento, algo que resulta imprescindible para asumir que no estaremos aquí eternamente. Y viceversa; necesitamos recordar constantemente que nuestra vida es finita para aprovechar nuestro tiempo; porque si hay algo que se nos escapa es la vida, es el tiempo.
PS: He hecho entradas de blog analizando cada uno de los capítulos y una conclusión final, si alguien está interesado que pregunte ;)
Es el típico libro que tengo cerca para cuando siento que me pierdo en mi desorganización volver a él, releer lo subrayado y seguir adelante con solo un vistazo por encima de sus páginas.
Lo recomiendo, incluso a gente que tenga miedo a la muerte, pues es una manera de saber que estarás aprovechando tu vida tal cual quieres hacerlo en todo momento, algo que resulta imprescindible para asumir que no estaremos aquí eternamente. Y viceversa; necesitamos recordar constantemente que nuestra vida es finita para aprovechar nuestro tiempo; porque si hay algo que se nos escapa es la vida, es el tiempo.
PS: He hecho entradas de blog analizando cada uno de los capítulos y una conclusión final, si alguien está interesado que pregunte ;)
March 4, 2022
I rarely abandon books but had to cut bait on this one. Throughout this read like the author’s opinions with nary a fact or statistic in sight. It is filled with sweeping and questionable generalizations with no supporting research whatsoever. Obviously the author is entitled to his opinions but that is not really of value to me. Save yourself some precious time, skip the Art of Time.
July 15, 2020
Sürekli bir şeylere egemen olmak peşinde adam. Üç cümleden beşinde bir şeylere egemen oluyoruz. Çeviri o kadar kötü ki bazı cümleler anlamını yitirmiş. Kitaptan da yeni iki üç şey öğrendiysem belki, daha güzelleri net vardır.
August 23, 2023
La guimauve du temps m’a hit cet été parce que ça m’a frl pris 4mois lire ces 160 pages ; les jours ont rétrécis, ne pouvaient plus abriter tout ce que j’avais projeté sur eux et mon intérêt pour le livre s’est endormi quelque part en juillet.
December 27, 2018
Short read that teaches us that time and life are synonyms. That ultimately we are all going to die and we have to organize our day to say to maximize happiness and peace.
September 6, 2021
Great thought provoking book.
April 25, 2025
One of the greatest time management books ever written. Combine this with Getting Things Done and you never have to read another time management book ever again
July 9, 2011
This is not your "run off the mill" time management book that tells you how to become more efficient by saving a few minutes a day or cutting out certain minor activities. This book is much more fundamental. Servan-Schreiber looks straight at our deficits when it comes to managing our time. Addressing the many culprits for our lack of time, his European perspective should be a great eye opener for anybody who is held hostage to the work ethic and education that places work life above everything else. He addresses issues like couple being too stressed for having sex anymore and how modern life is going against what defines us as human beings. The author makes you think about your priorities in life. This means the priorities of how you spend time. He also gives concrete advice on how to get some or your time back by re-setting priorities. This is a must-read for anybody facing time constraints in his or her life - basically for all of us.
November 30, 2014
I liked how the author explained the different types of time and how we cannot control nor alter time, simply because time does that to us. I feel like I got a better understanding of how to organize my time and how other people manage their time. Because this book talked about the art of time, I now feel motivated to become better at managing my time. Additionally, I really liked the part when he talked about ways he organized his daily routine, which really motivated me.
Unfortunately, there were a few parts which I found somewhat tedious and repetitive. It felt like as if he was restating what he had already said in a different way, just to take up space. I guess that even if it was a book to inspire organizational skills, it didn't need to be this long.
Overall, this book was not the best nor the worst, just one of the books that come and go, not exactly imprinting all of their ideas into your mind.
Unfortunately, there were a few parts which I found somewhat tedious and repetitive. It felt like as if he was restating what he had already said in a different way, just to take up space. I guess that even if it was a book to inspire organizational skills, it didn't need to be this long.
Overall, this book was not the best nor the worst, just one of the books that come and go, not exactly imprinting all of their ideas into your mind.
March 25, 2012
I loved the first section. The words flowed and entranced me with the vision of time and it's real meaning. I developed a new appreciation for the meaning of time and how I view it. I was expecting a total development of that beginning thought. What followed was just dull and never really opened up any new directions or motivated a new outlook.
July 10, 2012
i'll never get that time back.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews