Manage your time

If you need to be successful in life you need to be brutal about how you manage your time. Each one of us has been endowed by God with 24 hours a day. It’s all up to us how we use these 24 hours.
A sloppy use of time now will cost us down the line, that is, it will cost us in our later years of our careers and our lives. If we don’t manage time we are likely to coast in life at others whims without actually achieving anything worthwhile for ourselves. Control your time and you take your life and your destiny into your own hands.

You end up achieving more in life. It’s very critical to know how you can manage your time. There are immense benefits that will accrue to you as you practice good time management.
Managing your daily time will give you extra productive time. The one hour you might lose through surfing aimlessly on the internet if saved will give you 5 hours a week which you can put to better use. You could use that time to further your studies or to do something productive in your business that can give you an edge over your competition.

As you manage your time effectively you tend to be focussed on the task at hand because you would have given yourself a deadline to complete a task.
This is not an externally imposed deadline but rather what you have determined yourself and so it does not put you under undue pressure. This will increase your efficiency as you perform each task.
With good time management you are in control of your life. You don’t have to work under stress because of deadlines resulting from your mismanagement of time. You know what you want to do at a specific time. So you will have time to relax while others are running in utter confusion.

Good decisions are made if you are not rushed into making them. Effective time management gives you time to consider a number of options before you make a decision. Your decisions are therefore likely to be better and well informed.
Benjamin Franklin said: “Do you love life? Then don’t waste time, because time is life!” When you manage your time you perform well and so you have a lot of time at your disposal to spend with your family, to experience life to the fullest and to enjoy yourself with your family.

Time does not stop. It keeps on ticking so if you don’t spend quality time with your spouse and kids you will live to regret because the kids will soon grow and before you know it they will be out of the nest and you would not have enjoyed them.
When they are old they have their own businesses to do with their time. You would have missed the boat!

There is a saying that says “procrastination is the thief of time.” If you manage your time well you will be disciplined in how you work and so you will not procrastinate. You will be productive in your work.
To have an effective time management regime you need to adopt a certain strategy that fits with your lifestyle; you know when you are at your peak, when you eat and when you sleep.
To have effective time management you need to plan your work and life. In your plan set for yourself goals and make sure you monitor your progress towards those goals. Your goals should be specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-bound.

You need to assess how you are using your time. You can do this assessment for a week. You keep a log of how you are using your time from daybreak till you go to bed. Keep the time log in time slots of 15 minutes. Review your log for any time wasters which you need to eliminate.
Organise your work on a daily basis on a “things to do” list. Any uncompleted tasks can be carried forward to the next day. Once you have your “to do” list prioritise the list according to importance and when due.

Lastly, you need to put your “to do” list in your work schedule and this time you allocate a time for each task. Leave some breaks for any unexpected assignments. Ensure you complete each task within its allotted time.
“Time and tide wait for no man.” If you don’t control your time you will not succeed in your endeavours. Time is very important. We are all given 24 hours but the irony is that some say they don’t have time but others have plenty of time for relaxation. Unfortunately you cannot save time but at least you can live it. Eleanor Roosevelt is reputed to have once said, “Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery and today is a gift; that’s why they call it the present.”

Stewart Jakarasi is a business and financial strategist and a lecturer in business strategy (ACCA P3), advanced performance management (P5) and entrepreneurship.
He is the Managing Consultant of Shekina Consulting (Pty) Ltd and provides advisory and guidance on leadership, strategy and execution, corporate governance, preparation of business plans, tender documents and on how to build and sustain high-performing organisations.
For assistance in implementing some of the concepts discussed in these articles please contact him on the following contacts: sjakarasi@gmail.com, call on +266 58881062 or WhatsApp +266 62110062 .