Here’s Jason Fried with a good reminder: often times when we say we “don’t have time”, it’s more appropriate to think in terms of applying attention. There’s lots of time; we just choose to prioritize different things:

A few years ago I realized that if I’m too busy to take something on, I shouldn’t say “I don’t have the time”. In fact, I often do have the time. It’s not that hard to squeeze in some extra time for someone.

What I don’t have – and what I can’t squeeze in – is more attention. Attention is a far more limited resource than time. So what I should say is “I don’t have the attention”. I may have 8 hours a day for work, but I probably have 4 hours a day for attention.

I’m going to start using the term “attention management”.