CHAPTER 3

The Art of Competitive Frugality

Lost time is never found again; and what we call time enough always proves little enough: let us then up and be doing, and doing to the purpose.

—Benjamin Franklin, The Way to Wealth

Time is always short, and “anguish absolute, and many hurt,” to quote Emily Dickinson. The classics are a valuable source for reminding us to do more with less, since the emphasis is always on the smart doing and the saving of time and effort, without becoming machine-like. For example, Franklin connects diligence with the elimination of distraction, waste, and self-harm. I have argued the same, while adding a comparison to Dilbert in Chapter 1. If our great competitors of tomorrow would keep Franklin in their cubicles, we’d have better products—and a better world. Dilbert would lose, by 2020, his cartoonish material.