Thursday, 8 November 2012

TIME MANAGEMENT SKILLS: IT JUST HAPPENS SO FAST


*Ring!* *Ring!!* *Ring!!!*. That was my alarm. I hate it when it makes that annoying sound; I just have to live with it if I want to wake up early. But this time it  interrupted a very interesting dream where I was a co-host for the Grammy’s, rocking the show in my Louis Vuitton swag and…… that’s by the way, I have a bus to catch because I have a veryimportant interview to attend, I spent most of my week preparing for this big day.

By the time I got to the bus station, I was like"seriously! What is going on here?" Everyone was in some sort of rush. I was like an alien in their midst. Really! But it is just 6:30am, there was no sign of ‘gentleness’ in the men dressed up in suits and the ladies were not left out either.
So they have to go through this daily routine so they could keep their jobs. All so they could keep up with time? Can we actually keep up with time? Can we manage time?
I want us to understand something here, your 22-carat gold or your Rolex wrist watch is not time. You can’t buy time neither can you manage it.
There are so many books and lectures on time management. They teach us how to organize our tasks to achieve maximum efficiency and how to juggle our affairs to save as much time as we can. But in this article we are going to learn how to deal with time from an internal point of view and how to develop the proper attitude toward time so that we can enjoy every moment to the fullest.
Like I said earlier, time is not something that can be managed. What we really must learn to do is manage ourselves in the context of time. Time is like a flowing river and we are like ships sailing upon that river. We don’t manage the flow of the river; what we manage is the direction of our sail and rudder to determine our destination.

How can we manage ourselves in time?

The only way we can manage ourselves in time is by setting S.M.A.R.T goals. The same 24hrs you have access to daily, is the same that great guys like Bill gates, Ken Blanchard, Brian Tracy, Les Brown, Mark Victor Hansen, Fela Durotoye, Sam Adeyemi amongst others do too. But they set great S.M.A.R.T goals and managed themselves in a context of time so they can fulfill their dreams in life.
One of the greatest time stealers of all is neglecting to identify the duties we need to perform each day. To wake up each day with no clear cut out plan of action is to invite aimlessness, which is always accompanied by emptiness and confusion.
The simple act of identifying your specific tasks is like placing your hands firmly on the steering wheel of a moving car. By guiding yourself in the direction you wish to travel today, you will be setting a course toward success for tomorrow.

HOW? Set S.M.A.R.T goals.

S-specific, M-measurable, A-attainable, R-realistic, T-timely
Setting S.M.A.R.T goals is a very broad topic which I am going to shed more light on next week.
The only thing that would make you different is the kind of goals you set and the work you put towards accomplishing them. Don’t just be a day dreamer.
We are in a touch-feely age of nice that you would be so carried away by the technological advancements if you don’t manage yourself in time
Act on your freedom to identify and execute the duties that must be performed in order to reach your goals in all areas of your life. Don’t get caught up in spending years of your life without taking a close look at where your actions are taking you.
On a last note, live each day as if it were your last. Cherish every hour of the day for it can never return neither can you deposit ‘today’ in the bank to be withdrawn tomorrow. Stop procrastinating.
Time is not money. No man can buy nor manage time, it just happens so fast but you can manage yourself in a context of time.
I hope you were inspired by this piece. I would love to hear your views on it too.
Feel free to share with your friends by hitting the share button below.
Thanks
Sadiq Daniel (@ayamtheone on twitter)