43 pages in and I question myself if I'm wasting my time. He has an M.B.A., is quoted by presidents, and has sold over 3 million copies of his book, How to Get Control of Your Time and Your Life." Alan Lakien could have worked with me at the age of 15 while I mixed mud, moved scaffolding, hoisted bricks, jointed causes, and washed out the mixer in order to keep two brick layers going. All while wondering if the new help was going to show up today. I got paid for that education on the job. He paid Harvard.
President Clinton summed up his methodology with this,
"When I was a young man just out of law school and eager to get on with my life, on a whim I briefly put aside my reading preference for fiction and history and bought one of those how-to books: How to Get Control of Your Time and Your Life, by Alan Lakein. The book's main point was the necessity of listing short-, medium-, and long-term life goals, then categorizing them in order of their importance, with the A group being the most important, the B group next, and the C the last, then listing under each goal specific activities designed to achieve them. I still have that paperback book, now almost thirty years old. And I'm sure I have that old list somewhere buried in my papers, though I can't find it. However, I do remember the A list. I wanted to be a good man, have a good marriage and children, have good friends, make a successful political life, and write a great book."
If Mr. Lakien had shown up to help my mason bosses back in the day, he could have achieved his "knowledge" much cheaper and sooner.
We worked in the same A, then B, then C method. A1, mix the mud to lay this house or job. A2 bid and plan the next job. If it rains, then plan B such as an indoor job or skip and run to the lake for the day. If we have no other jobs lined out or cheap labor enters the workforce, let's go to plan C.
I guess he was ahead of the more modern version of Keller's The ONE Thing idea. Isn't it obvious you have to show up before you lay a brick? Isn't it clear that you have to mix mud before you need to jump on the scaffold? Isn't it obvious that if we want to build a brick house, we start with one brick at a time and first we call and order the brick that we picked out?
I should stop my arrogance but I did not go to Harvard to figure this one out. I went to work from 6 am to 3 pm on summer break. I did send my ACT scores to Harvard, but I never heard anything.
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