Time Management

 ‘Lost wealth may be replaced by industry, lost knowledge by study,  lost health by temperance or medicine; but lost time is gone foever.’

Somewhere in 1981 I remember I had carried Sidney Sheldon’s Bloodline with me to Valour where I had accompanied my maternal uncle Inder Singh Mamaji for his ear checkup. While going through the novel  I had come across the following beautiful lines related to Time:-

‘Time is the subtle thief of youth,

The thief that shortens all our golden hours.

For then I had never understood,

Why lovers counted their happiness

In days nights and years?

When it could be only measured

In our joys sighs and tears`.

Time and tide wait for none. Hence it is important for us to learn to manage and  our time well for attaining our goals and also to have peace of mind.

Stephen Covey  divides all our tasks into the following four categories:-

1.       Important and Urgent

These tasks come under NECESSITY

Example: Deadlines to be met; Medical emergencies; pressing problems; last minute preparations

We need to LEARN to Mangage and Do such activities

2.       Important but Not Urgent

Example: Preparation and Planning; Values; Clarifications; Empowerment; Relationship building; True recreation

We need to LEARN to STAY FOCUSED and PLAN

3.       Not Important but Urgent

These tasks come under DECEPtION

Example: Frequent interruptions; Most emails; Some calls; Meeting other people’s priorities; Urgency appearing as important

We need to LEARN to be CAUTIOUS

4.       Neither Important nor Urgent

These tasks come under WASTE

Example: Mindless TV watching; Video games; Phone calls; Chats; Gossips

We need to LEARN to AVOID/ELIMINATE

We need to introspect ourselves and see where we are spending our time and automatically our intelligence will enable us to bring about a change in ourselves and improve in our stature irrespective of the situation or age we in.