Time Management: A Catholic Approach
By Marshall J. Cook. Pauline Books and Media (Boston, 2009). 142 pp., $12.95 (accompanying workbook, 105 pp., $10.95).

Anyone who has resolved to manage their time better for the new year will rejoice in Marshall Cook's book and workbook, "Time Management: A Catholic Approach."

Cook, who taught at the University of Wisconsin-Madison for 30 years, asks his readers to look to Jesus as a model of a man who knew what to do with his time.

The author writes: "As busy as we may be, can any of us claim to be busier than Jesus was during his brief time on earth? He had only three years to accomplish his mission, which was nothing less than the salvation of the human race."

Cook advises his readers to look to how Jesus used his time and made time for quiet and prayer.

And he asks for a new perspective on time. "God gives each of us and equal allotment of time each day. We can't save it, kill it, waste it or spend it. We can only live it, wisely or foolishly, for the greater glory of the God who made us for some other lesser reason. When we understand this, we also understand that this day, this moment, this eternal now is all we have --- and all we'll ever need."

Cook's book and the accompanying workbook are filled with practical suggestions. One idea: Take four mini-vacations every day, without leaving home. "Think of a place where you once felt peace and contentment," he suggests, and go there in their mind for just a short time.

He offers advice on many such practical matters as making a manageable "to-do" list and addressing procrastination. One of the biggest problems with time management, he writes, is television: "A two-year Gallup Poll found that we spend 26 to 34 percent of our leisure time watching the tube."

He also suggests keeping the Sabbath holy, and he suggests that daily Mass would help rather than hinder someone with a busy schedule.

---CNS

Peggy Weber is a columnist and producer with Catholic Communications for the Diocese of Springfield, Mass.