Paul Graham has a nice explanation of the difference in time and schedules between makers and managers at http://paulgraham.com/makersschedule.html. For those of us who have worked at large companies it is the explanation of why we always sound like we have plans (Dilbert) but never accomplish them. One of the nuggets in the article is that the work we take on is close to our capacity and THEN the world chips away at our time, our success, and eventually our self-image or self-respect. Please look at the article online at the source where there are so many more things to see as well. I have a copy here only in the event that the article disappears.