What is ‘Time’?
‘Time’ is defined by man as a period spanning from a beginning to an end. To measure it, it has been divided into units to give an idea of what has been spent within a particular period. Time can therefore be said to be an existing state which humans have given to enable us give a measure to progress and to read into the seasons.
Time Value
The first principle for time management is to put value on your time.
This is what I told a young man, “I am fifty-seven years old and you are eighteen years old. No matter how hard I try, I cannot return to where you are at age 18 and you too, no matter how hard you try, where I am, you will be and you cannot stop yourself from coming to age 57. You pay play or play pay. When you get to my age, whether you will be greater than or less than what I am depends on the wise you of your time and resources. I am part of your resources but never part of your time; and the choice is always yours.” Meditate on this, it has changed the lives of many to greatness.
The Nature of Time
Time is a measure in our minds, therefore, what you achieve within time is what is important. Time itself cannot make you rich or make you achieve anything. It is what you do within a specified time that would make you progress or not.
Time can never be on your side so do what you have to do when you have to do it. Time is just like a catalyst in a chemical reaction; it speeds up your progress but is not part of the components. Different times or seasons present you with different opportunities.
Time gives us a historical framework of things; when it is in the future nothing has been achieved but it holds the grains of possibilities, the past is already gone but it holds the memory of your achievements that you can activate to connect you to the potentials of today. You can achieve something with the present and you do it by merging the past and the future in now.
Nobody owns time but we have to spend it, use it and apply it wisely so as to prosper and enhance life.
Rooselvet said, 90% of success lies in the wise use of time.
Time Management Guidelines
- To use time effectively and efficiently, you must plan and organize yourself properly. When you allow yourself to be blown away by the wind of time and circumstances you will retard in progress. For instance, a parent spends so much money, time and energy to send his child to school with an expectation that the child excels. A well-organized child will in turn plan to fit into the parent’s plan and excel. On the other hand, if the child gets involve in drugs the parent becomes disappointed. It is very necessary to plan well and know what you want to do.
- Start your day by setting achievable goals, targets
- Let your time be purpose driven
- Put value on your time and assess if the time used with friends is worth it.
- Set your right priorities; make a to-do or daily action list if necessary to guide you so that you can achieve a lot within a day. Be mindful of your daily activities in relation to achieving your goals. The activities you are not able to accomplish in your to-do- list may be carried forward to the next day and make sure you are done with it.
- As a student make a timetable and use it well. Learn a subject daily and consistently; don’t pile everything up and wait till examination time before you start learning. Don’t be complacent in any subject or think you know a particular subject too much; learn them because the difference between ‘A’ and ‘B’ is 1 mark. Allocate time each for all the subjects and give special attention to subjects you are weak in.
- Before bed, assess how profitable your time has been used in the day.
- Make time for relaxation, recreation, eating, learning and sleeping because the body needs all these.
- Avoid interactions and disruptions from all angles especially friends. For instance, don’t use your learning time to jam with friends. Probably they might have studied the previous night and you haven’t. People learn differently so to follow mates in their play times could be for your doom. Be sure that everything you are doing at every time is necessary and promotes your highest good. Ask yourself, ‘how is this particular thing I am doing serving my highest good?’
- Be effective and efficient; thus doing the right thing in the best way at the right time. For instance, going to church and dancing all day without any learning is not a way to success. Procrastination is the destroyer of time; do not defer to tomorrow what you can do today. Tomorrow comes with its needs and timetable.
- Avoid lateness. Aim to be at the program least 15 minutes early. Some people take the habit of lateness to the university so they are always late for lectures. And in the university if you miss the introduction of a particular topic in a subject, you have missed the whole topic and it becomes very difficult for you to catch up.
- Start work on time and close on time.Proverbs 6:24: “Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep so shall thy poverty come as that, that travelleth and thy want as an arm robber.”
Ecclesiastes3:1-8 – “To every thing, there is a season and a purpose to time . ..
The above scriptural readings buttress all the points above.
Vampires of Time
- Getting involved with bad friends. A bad friend is the one who comes to you to go out and have fun all the time. A good friend is the one who comes with a particular subject for discussion and studies. Also good friend is the one whose objectives and goals enhance you. Relate a little with friends who will involve you in unproductive ventures and a lot with good friends.
- Don’t waste your time on boyfriend-girlfriend relationships. Figuratively, there will be time where the food would be served with all the appetizers and desserts so don’t chase the fresh cassava from the farm. To the boys who chase girls at a very tender age, most of these girls grow successfully whilst the boys fail. Often you will see these girls in front of their husband’s cars waving at you. And when the husbands ask they say, this foolish boy when we were in school, he was not learning meanwhile, it is the same girl who had wasted your time. The girls must also avoid hanging around boys who cannot do anything for them.
- Avoid drugs, cigarettes and alcohol. Drugs hallucinate, make you feel big when you are actually not, confuse you, retard your mind and take away your creativity.
- Never learn with noisy music such as “Shaba” music at the same time. There is an extremely low concentration and absorption when learning with noisy music. Make sure you are relaxed, focused when learning. Also, avoid watching too many TV programs because as a student, exams questions will not be set on them.After all the above discussion, consider your age, evaluate your life and notice what you have achieved within that time frame because an unexamined life is not worth living. Find what you could have achieved by that time, why you haven’t and what you can do to achieve them. You have the ability to improve your life. You have the ability to chase time and overtake it.
Set new targets, embark on new operations; be motivated by this lecture. There is no only one road to achievement; there are so many ways and this is the time for you to change your destiny. Everyday must be profitably used so that you glorify God, yourself and the entire universe.
