Alan Lakein

Alan Lakein – Life, Career, and Famous Quotes

Discover the life and ideas of Alan Lakein, American author and time-management pioneer. Learn how his work—especially How to Get Control of Your Time and Your Life—reshaped productivity thinking, and read his most enduring quotes on planning, priorities, and time mastery.

Introduction

Alan Lakein is an American author and consultant best known for his foundational work in time management and personal productivity. While not a household name in the general public, Lakein’s influence runs deep in business, coaching, and self-help circles. His writings and techniques—particularly those promoted since the early 1970s—helped popularize the idea that time management is a skill to be learned rather than a mystical talent reserved for the exceptionally organized.

His most famous book, How to Get Control of Your Time and Your Life, has sold millions of copies. Lakein’s principles (like “What is the best use of my time right now?”) remain common in productivity training, coaching, and business literature.

Early Life and Education

• Alan Lakein was born on November 5, 1932 in the United States.

• He is an alumnus of Johns Hopkins University and also studied at Harvard Business School.

• Lakein based his work out of Santa Cruz, California in his later years.

Beyond these basic details, Lakein kept a relatively low personal profile. He focused much more on publishing, consulting, and training than on publicity.

Career and Achievements

Pioneering Time Management

Lakein is best known for bringing time management from a niche business topic into mainstream personal development. His key idea: time is life, and how we manage it is central to effective living and achieving goals.

His 1973 book, How to Get Control of Your Time and Your Life, became his signature work and a go-to manual for time management strategies.

In addition to writing, Lakein produced seminars, training films, and consulting engagements—helping organizations and individuals internalize time management techniques.

Key Concepts & Methods

Some of Lakein’s enduring contributions include:

• Lakein’s Question: “What is the best use of my time right now?” — a prompt to cut through distractions and refocus on priority tasks.

• Prioritization (“ABC method”): In 1973 he advocated classifying tasks as A (highest importance), B (less urgent), and C (least important) to guide daily scheduling.

• Short lists and clarity: He discouraged overly elaborate systems in favor of simple to-do lists, clarity about what matters, and consistent review.

• Bringing the future into the present: One of his quoted lines expresses this: “Planning is bringing the future into the present so that you can do something about it now.”

Lakein’s principles have influenced many later productivity thinkers and authors. His ideas serve as foundational building blocks rather than end points.

Historical & Intellectual Context

• In the 1970s, the modern self-help and business productivity movement was emerging—figures like Peter Drucker, Stephen Covey, and others were shaping how people think about work, time, and effectiveness. Lakein’s emphasis on personal time mastery fit squarely into that zeitgeist.

• His use of simple, repeatable questions and prioritization methods reflected a shift away from top-down management toward individual responsibility and autonomy in knowledge work.

• In the field of time management, Lakein is often credited with popularizing the ABC method of prioritizing tasks.

• Over time, his methods were adopted in corporate training, educational settings, and management courses, helping to mainstream productivity as a teachable skill.

Legacy and Influence

Alan Lakein’s legacy is most visible in how many productivity systems and time-management trainers still rely on or echo his phrasing, questions, and frameworks. Some specific aspects of his influence:

• Enduring quotes and prompts: His question and time-life equation find reuse in countless books, apps, workshops, leadership training curricula, and blogs.

• Foundation for later systems: Productivity methods like GTD (Getting Things Done), time blocking, and modern task managers stand on the shoulders of principles like clarity, prioritization, and “next action” thinking—ideas Lakein helped popularize.

• Corporate training adoption: His books and films have been licensed or used by organizations to teach time effectiveness in professional settings.

• Cross-discipline reach: Lakein’s ideas have been used by managers, students, creatives, entrepreneurs—anyone facing the challenge of managing limited time and multiple obligations.

While he may not have had the mass name recognition of some self-help authors, his ideas live on in how people approach planning, priorities, and productivity.

Personality and Style

From what’s publicly known, Lakein was not a flamboyant self-promoter. His approach was practical, direct, and centered on utility over personality. He emphasized what people do over what they say about doing.

His style in writing and training leaned toward clarity, brevity, and actionable language rather than theoretical or academic exposition. For example, questions like “What is the best use of my time right now?” are simple but potent.

Famous Quotes of Alan Lakein

Here are some of Alan Lakein’s most cited and resonant quotes:

• “Time = Life, Therefore, waste your time and waste your life, or master your time and master your life.”

• “Planning is bringing the future into the present so that you can do something about it now.”

• “Failing to plan is planning to fail.”

• “In all planning you make a list and you set priorities.”

• “What is the best use of my time right now?” — Lakein’s signature question to drive focus.

• “Time is life. It is irreversible and irreplaceable. To waste your time is to waste your life, but to master your time is to master your life and make the most of it.”

• “You cannot do a goal. Long-term planning and goal-setting must therefore be complemented by short-term planning.”

These quotes encapsulate Lakein’s philosophy: time is precious, clarity and priority matter, and small, consistent actions yield meaningful progress.

Lessons from Alan Lakein

1. Ask key questions
   The simple prompt “What is the best use of my time right now?” forces clarity and cuts through overwhelm.

2. Prioritize with purpose
   Not every task is equal. By labeling tasks A, B, C (or similarly), you direct energy where it matters most.

3. Plan, but act
   Planning itself isn’t enough. Lakein emphasized that planning should lead to doing—not more thinking.

4. Align daily actions with bigger goals
   Link tasks to meaningful aims so that daily effort adds up over time.

5. Keep things simple
   Overcomplicated systems often fail. Lakein’s power lay in straightforward techniques people can adopt immediately.

6. Respect the value of time
   Framing time as life itself raises the stakes: wasting time is more than inefficiency; it’s lost opportunity.

Conclusion

Alan Lakein may not be a celebrity author, but to many in the productivity world, he’s a foundational figure. His work transformed time management from a vague idea into a discipline that individuals and organizations can practice. His hallmark phrasing and questions continue to reverberate in productivity apps, books, workshops, and coaching.