But in real world, hippos have teeth size of your head. They can run faster than anyone in this room. And they weight upwards of 5,000 pounds. I mean, they are BIG! If you’re ever at a cocktail party and a hippopotamus starts, you know, flirting with you, whatever you do, do not let him sit on your lap.

Rage is all rage these days. Road rage. Lineup rage. Waiting-room rage. Even river rage. You may also have heard of parking lot rage, elevator rage and airplane rage. What gives? Is world getting angrier or just more crowded?

Both. It’s a fact that as our space and time grow increasingly crowded, our stress levels rise.

When it comes to space, we are cramming more people into more crowded cities, elevators, airplanes, stores. Our patience diminishes. Our good will diminishes. Our tolerance diminishes. Has anyone noticed they place chairs at conferences – you noticed! -- so close together that even skinny people get to know each other well. My theory is that hotels are trying to develop their own niche rage market: conference seating rage.

Let’s look at our schedules. What are we trying to do? We’re trying to see how many items we can squeeze onto our “to do” list, and how many activities we can cram into a day. And stress, where does it go? Right up there, exactly.

I want to share this one little thought with you. We are in process of moving, so we actually have two homes. Stress that builds in my stacked concrete box apartment they call a condo, I can’t get rid of. It sticks. I can’t shake it off. It won’t go. It sticks. When I’m at my farm house just a few miles south of here, surrounded by grass and trees, it’s amazing how quickly I can just excommunicate stress. Can I say that? Excommunicate? Why not?

OK. What have we learned today? Three lessons, so please take note.

Number one, don’t let your space get too crowded.

Number two, don’t let your schedule get too crowded.

Number three, and this is most important of all, don’t ever, ever let a hippopotamus sit on your lap.

I’m going to share with you a time management strategy that is GRANDFATHER of time management strategies. This original technique sold for $25,000 nearly 70 years ago to top management. It was highly prized.

It will work for you, if you put as much energy into using it, as you would if you just paid $25,000 for it, or closer to $75,000 if you account for inflation.

Bethlehem Steel was willing to pay amount in order to increase productivity of their company. They consulted with Mr. Ivy Lee.

Lee’s advise?

“All you need to do, advised Mr. Lee, is take a pad of paper, this evening, and list most urgent projects which confront you. Then, study list and number them, assigning number one to most important job, number two to next most vital, and so on down list.

Beginning tomorrow, tackle number one and stay on it until it is finished before you move on to number two. Work on down list. When day is through, prepare a new list, again assigning top priority to most important task still undone and so on down list. Do this everyday.” (University of Success, Og Mandino, pg. 219)

Of course it is up to you to make your list every single day. Why not try this $75,000 technique for one week. I’d love to hear about your success. (Donald@spiritualjava.com)

Sincerely,

Donald

******************************************** Dr. Donald Schnell co- founded with Marilyn Diamond of Fit For Life, the Spiritual Java Diet Coaching Program, that is transforming thousands. The New Spiritual Diet, Incredible Value, One on One coaching Amazing Results. http://www.SpiritualJava.com or email: Donald@SpiritualJava.com Donald Schnell is the author of The Initiation. Free Motivational Newsletter, The Buzz http://www.spiritualjava.com