Time Management Advice

Many years ago, Oscar-winning actor Alec Guinness told a famous story about meeting a young Star Wars fan in San Francisco. The eager youngster, a "sweet-faced boy of 12" accompanied by his mother, claimed to have seen the original 1977 film more than 100 times. The tweedily British Guinness, on the record even before appearing in Star Wars as harboring great reluctance to embrace what he termed "fairy tale rubbish," was taken aback.

Perhaps hoping to encourage the young fan to take his first step into a larger world, Guinness asked the boy to do a special favor for him and never see Star Wars again. Crushed at this rejection from his literal matinee idol, the starry-eyed tween burst into tears, earning Guinness a stern rebuke from the boy's mother. The actor took a philosophical view: "Maybe she was right. But I just hope the lad, now in his 30s, is not living in a fantasy world of secondhand childish banalities."

Most people would probably agree that Sir Alec should have handled the situation differently. It's just bad behavior to torment a child — especially one whose only crime is liking something you did — whether or not you believe that what you feel compelled to do or say is for that child's own good. After all, many of us know, and have perhaps even parented, a child whose investment in a movie or book or television show borders on obsession. Many of us were that child growing up.

On the other hand, in the harsh light of adulthood, most of us can appreciate that there are more productive applications of limited time than watching anything over and over again. Star Wars is 2 hours and 5 minutes long. So if you watch it 100 times (let alone more than 100 times), then you've spent a little more than 8.5 days of your life doing nothing but watch Star Wars. Think about what else you could have accomplished in the same amount of time.

One thing that most people could probably accomplish is to study for and pass a certification exam using one of TestOut Continuing Education's top-tier training courses. Break up those 8.5 days into short daily sessions (say, perhaps, two hours), and you'll still be done in a few months. Then you can use your newfound knowledge and skills to get a better job, or launch a career it IT. Sir Alec would probably approve. May the Force be with you.