It is sad to see lots of people living as though they have all the time in this world in their hands. If I may ask you: What do you do with your time? You see, time is the longest and yet the shortest thing in the world. It is the swiftest and yet the slowest, the most divisible and the most extended. It is the least valued and the most regretted, without which nothing can be done. It is the most perishable commodity and its supply is limited to only 24 hours.
You may be cajoled into thinking you have all the time to do all you want, and then relax, only to realize you have wasted your whole life without achieving anything meaningful. As said in Psalm 90:12: “Teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.” You need wisdom to manage your time because it is your greatest asset given to you by your creator to make an impact in your generation. A wise man continuously works to redeem his time in order to achieve maximum productivity. Henry David Thoreau wrote: “It is not enough to be busy; so are the ants. The question is: What are we busy about?” We must not allow good things to crowd out essentials.
Management expert Peter Drucker identified this leadership principle: He said that “good leaders need to regard first of all not their task, but their time.” Never allow yourself to be deceived. The things you ought to have done in the morning may not be possible to achieve at night. Even Jesus declared by saying, “I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one works.” There is time and season for everything.
Time management is crucial to utilizing your potential. You should know that time works against you if you do not manage it. Not redeeming your time is one major monster against achieving personal goals. Some say there is no time. This is a lie; you only have time for what you create time for and what you consider very important. As noted by Charles Buxton “You will never 'find' time for anything. If you want time you must make it”. It is your personal responsibility to make time for what you want to achieve in life. Developing a mental consciousness of “no time to waste” should put a spring in your feet to work doggedly in achieving all your set goals before the night comes on you.
Managing your time will effectively help you achieve greatness. Time is a key factor to fulfilling your destiny. Your all round success in anything can only be attributed to your wise use of time. Time is the defining divine gift of mortality. It is the ultimate scarce resource we have--one of the most essential decisions any of us can make is about how one's time is allocated or invested. Benjamin Franklin notes: "Lost time is never found again."
We all have equal time and no one is deprived of it. We can only deprive ourselves when we lack the proper management and effective use of our time. How we use our time determines the result we expect to achieve---either success or failure. It’s a choice.
Below are tips on how to manage your time effectively:
(1) Spend time planning and organizing. Plan on paper! Develop blocks of time: Short Term, Mid Term, and Long Term. Organize in a way that makes sense to you.
(2) Determine your goals and objectives. Goals give your life, and the way you spend your time, direction. Set SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and timely) goals.
(3) Identify your personal and work- related priorities. Make an ABC of your activities: A-Must, B-Should, C-Nice/Necessary, D-Delegate, E-Eliminate.
(4) Consider your biological prime time. Knowing when your best time is and planning to use that time of day for your priorities is effective time management. Remember that 3 hours of unbroken time is more than 4 days of distracted work.
(5) Use a To-Do list. Pen down the activities of your day and follow it meticulously. This particular strategy has really worked tremendously for me over the years. It helps you track where your time is going at each moment of the day.
(6) Avoid procrastination: If you are a regular reader of my articles, you could still remember we dealt extensively on this topic in my previous write-ups. Form the habit of doing what need to be done at each moment in time. Never wait or delay any task that demands to be accomplished. Eradicate procrastination!
Finally, you make time to make things happen. You can never have time for anything except you make time for it to happen. Time does not wait for anybody. Whether you are working, sleeping, or playing, the time is in motion ticking towards eternity. If you truly want to unleash your potential, live a fulfilled life, achieve your set goals and objectives, then, you must catch up with time by managing yourself in it. It is dangerous to be living outside time.
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- Ten (10) C's of Personal Power
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