https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/2274

Candid and witty advice delivered in a tone somewhere between that of a used car salesman and a wizened (and exceptionally British) old uncle. Bennett doesn't attempt to hide his other opinions about the proper composition of a "good life" as he offers direct advice on actually making good use of our 24 hours per day.

Much of this is still relevant. The book contains about as much wisdom as any modern time management book I've read, and gets its points across in far fewer pages.

Worth a read in a sitting or two—good motivation to get work done, in any case!

This is near 100 years old and still holds true for today.

Found this book mentioned in a blog post. It's the beginning of a new year and the post wanted to side step the typical resolutions.

This is a good short read and let's you reflect on life.

Meh, it shows its date a bit too much for me.

This is a very short book which I read in one evening. Although, it was written in 1908, it is worth being read. Time is so precious to all of us. But do we make the most of it?
The writer warns us about possible mistakes we make and gives us advice how to spend our time. I agree with a lot of what he says in his book. He mentions Marcus Aurelius several times. I have read Marcus Aurelius and Seneca. They also spoke about spending time wisely.

Notes from reading

'And yet you are in search of happiness, are you not? Have you discovered it?
The chances are that you have not'.

This was a great book. It has a lot of timeless lessons. This book was originally published in 1908 but the lessons still apply to today. I love reading books that carry these types of timeless lessons. It's a short book and it's worth the read. One of the better books I've read in the genre.


Notes From Reading

You cannot squander your time ahead of it. Time does not let you go into debt.
You magically have the same amount every day.
Do not be subservient to your workday. The rest of your day is not the prologue and epilogue
1 hour a day can affect all of your days
Start quietly, small wins
Without the power to concentrate without the power to dictate to the brain's task and gain obedience true life is impossible
Read poetry
Haslett's on poetry in general
Aurora lea EB Browning
Don’t be a prege- you have your time not someone else’s
Respect your program but don’t make it a burden. You must have some elasticity
Don’t kill the impulse. Take the first lap deliberately slow. Having once decided to achieve a task, achieve it no matter how tedious or distasteful. You must gain self-confidence early. 

I enjoyed reading this slim little volume and reading some time management advice from quite a different era. Funny though, what he says I've read in many other modern books, only he says it far more succinctly and with greater style and humor. I think many time management type gurus of today fall into the trap he mentions in the last chapter - namely, they become prigs who take themselves far too seriously. Thankfully, this author does not. This makes this book far more entertaining and a lot shorter, too!

I hesitate to give it five stars even if it is pithy and enjoyable, largely because the author's suggestions on how to improve the quality of your life are so narrowly focused on the commuting employee. As a homeschooling mom of four, I can barely imagine experiencing a mandatory 45 minute twice daily period of silence (otherwise known as a commute) or dinner prepared and presented before me shortly after I return home! But still, the book encouraged me to make sure I make the most of the little bits of my time where I can think and reflect, as well as providing a fun look into a completely different way of life.

It is absolutely astounding how old the study of concentration, discipline, and personal excellence is... and how the principles never change from era to era. The start of the 20th century (1910) saw Bennett's book. The diction is difficult to follow, and it's surprisingly humorous at times. I rate it 3 stars only because of the general tone: more conversational, less instructive.

This was written over a century ago. The cheekiness, sarcasm and fine British humour alone makes it a very entertaining read!

Dit is naar ‘t schijnt het eerste self help boek ooit. En ik moet zeggen: het is zeker niet slecht.

Kort boek, vlot geschreven, goede ideeën, zeer motivational. Veel quotes, maar ik ben ze vergeten noteren.

Je moet wel even voorbij de “HE has aspirations, HE cultivates the mind, HE has things to do; SHE prepares breakfast” mindset geraken, maar ja ik vergeef het de auteur omdat dat waarschijnlijk toen ook gewoon zo was.

Ideeën uit dit boek die ik zeker ga onthouden:
- Alloceer 3x per week ‘s avonds anderhalf uur om iets bij te leren. De volgende ochtend, gebruik de tijd die je spendeert tijdens het pendelen, om wat je geleerd hebt, te overpeinzen. Heel belangrijk, want alleen zo kom je tot diepere inzichten.
- Tijdens het overpeinzen, concentreer u! Een brein dat, wanneer het een taak gegeven wordt, gehoorzaamt, zal je tijd besparen. Een gedisciplineerd brein is de oplossing tegen piekeren. Oefen daarop!
- The supply of time is a daily miracle.

Kga het boek sowieso nog eens opnieuw lezen, gewoon omdat het zo kort en to-the-point is.

not what i expected , but it was ok

These 84 pages delivered above what I had expected.

Read this with your "history goggles" on, realizing that Arnold Bennett wrote this for the upper-middle/high class working man with plenty of time to spare after work, but who trudges home exhausted after a day's work and faces the rest of his life without any sense of purpose. Bennett addresses the reader: "...you see friends; you potter; you play cards; you flirt with a book; you note that old age is creeping on you; you take a stroll; you caress the piano...Six hours, probably more, have gone since you left the office--gone like a dream, gone like magic, unaccountably gone!"(As I read this, I couldn't help rolling my eyes as I thought how this poor, poor reader who needs Bennett's advice is so bored as his wife slaves away at both first and second shifts, leaving him conveniently without any responsibilities to take up his time.)

So...if you can put that aside--realizing that all authors are products of their times--then this little book is actually quite the gem, providing an interesting philosophy on what *living* truly entails.

He presents an interesting mindset I had never before considered and found an immediate affinity for: "...he persists in looking upon those hours from ten to six as 'the day,' to which the ten hours preceding them and the six hours following them are nothing but a prologue and an epilogue...with the result that, even if he does not waste them, he does not count them; he regards them simply as margin...
If my typical man wishes to live fully and completely he must, in his mind, arrange a day with a day...[it] must begin at 6 p.m. and end at 10 a.m....During those sixteen hours he is free; he is not a wage-earner; he is not preoccupied with monetary cares; he is just as good as a man with a private income."

In this little book, he continues to lay out a specific, tangible plan for one to cultivate one's mind through daily meditation, introspection, study in some natural interest (3 nights weekly for 90 minutes), and reflection. All this is for the ultimate purpose of cultivating truly living one's life.

For example, he says, "Now, if you have read, say, Mr. Krehbiel's 'How to Listen to Music'...you would next go to a promenade concert with an astonishing intensification of interest in it...You would live at a promenade concert, whereas previously you had merely existed there in a state of beatific coma, like a baby gazing at a bright object."

He insists that there is more to cultivate the mind than just literature and the arts (so that this will work well for anyone with any interests, including those who dislike reading or art), but with regards to books he has much to say, including: "Unless you give at least forty-five minutes to careful, fatiguing reflection (it is an awful bore at first) upon what you are reading, your ninety minutes of a night are chiefly wasted. This means that your pace will be slow. Never mind."

The serious subject-matter is softened by Bennett's soft humour. At first I thought I would feel preached to, but his charm humbles him. For something that can be read in one sitting, this book is more than worth your while.