How To Live On 24 Hours A Day - 23 Self Help Classics

Arnold Bennett

This book is written in a simple common explanation

noting what is so obvious about the average everyday person's dilemma today. Everyone follows a typical cycle that involves leaving home, going to work and then returning home from work. This cycle means that most people are constantly in a fog unaffected by daily activities with no true meaning or

purpose for their life. Or, they don't even have a job to go to as they have been laid off from their job. Certainly some people in this group may have a desperate life, living from moment to moment frozen in their situation. No matter what the situation, everyone has the same interest in this book - the value of time.

This book provides understanding about the obvious: our complete wasting of time and how valuable time should be to everyone. Note this book was written 100 years ago. Yet, the information is as fresh and relevant as if Arnold Bennett lived in New York City today and not London in 1910. Time is the most important commodity that we all share equally every day, and this has been true through the sands of time. We all place our price on time, either through the amount we are paid hourly or the amount we pay someone else. Yet when we have our own free time, we tend to waste it needlessly, as if we owned the

sands of time. We should take the time we are given and use it wisely.

The Value of Time

Your happiness depends on how you spend your time. “We shall never have any more time. We have, and we always had, all the time there is.” Anyone who goes through his days doing the same basic expected routine of boredom begins to feel disconnected and blasé until they go against the norm and do something out of the ordinary. We try to start a new exercise routine or to read all of our back issues to the National

Geographic, and get an adrenaline rush at the idea of fitting back into those size two's or learning about all the indigenous groups around the globe. However, as soon as the novelty wears off, we give up. Ardor, or too much passion and intensity is also to blame, says Bennett. We get all caught up in the

newness and overlook the actual work that has to be done in order to get the desired results. Or we decide to go out like we always do on Friday night skipping the new program for fun and the usual routine. Then two days later we are back to our same old boring ways. However, the common excuse still rings through. There are not enough hours in a day. This is

something most of us have been affected by, yet we will never have any more time than we have right now.

Something people often overlook is the quality use of time.

Any task we have takes time. However, most often people look forward to the end or goal of finishing the task, without giving much devotion to the time that is spent completing the task.

This is important because everyone has heard the elderly population make such statements as they wished they had done this or that. Well if we take the time to understand the value and quality of the time we spend, we can learn from their mistakes. The next mistake is the lack of passion we have

when completing tasks or projects. Our general attitude must be passionate and devoted to the activity on which we are spending our precious time. We must first respect and appreciate our time before we can truly value it.

Time Saving Plan

The plan itself consists of 30 minutes six mornings per week, and one and a half hours a minimum of three evenings per week, for a total of seven and a half hours. This time, as recommended by Bennett, should be set aside to the study of any interesting topic or time to reflect on literary masterpieces, poetry in particular, to its completion and total understanding.

This time should not be spent on gardening, hiking, biking, fishing or any other simple task we should be doing anyway.

Whatever topic we decide to study, we should make certain to

set a specific time period, say one month, on focusing and studying only that topic to become an expert, as this

achievement brings about higher self-esteem and confidence.

Concentrate on the topic as completely as possible for the specific time.

Bennett lists a few impressive readings, “Aurora Leigh” by E.B. Browning and William Hazlitt's essay “On Poetry in

general,” as well as a few others that are recommended as worthy to spend our time studying. However, he goes on to say that not all impressive literature or serious readings are well-intentioned in the area of self-impression. We should choose a topic or time period to study instead of a single definitive piece, but we must make certain to be passionate about this topic. By using our thoughts to concentrate on what we find arousing in our mind we can obtain knowledge to be used to create change in our lives.

Is this Program for ME?

If you are wondering if this program is right for you, it is.

Simply stated, this program is for anyone who spends time on this planet, and that is every single person that is living and breathing. The purpose of “How to Live on 24 Hours a Day” is to spend at least a portion of time we normally flutter by on

learning about something important to us. Not only do we achieve expert status about any particular subject giving us more collateral in the social world, but we are also gaining self confidence and self esteem in which everyone could benefit from.

Sum of it All

The self-improvement book, “How to Live on 24 Hours a Day,” teaches the importance and value of time. Through the description of the obvious, Bennett shows us the details of the mundane lives of workers from a century ago which are eerily similar to the lives of workers of today to explain that just like the worker we are all wasting precious time. By setting aside a

“superprogramme,” Bennett gives us a step-by-step guide of explaining why we should spend time on becoming experts on topics we are passionate about, how to go about beginning such an undertaking and what is the overall effect of this change in our daily routine.

In document 23 Self Help Classics (Page 85-90)