HOW CAN LUMINARY LEADERS MANAGE THEIR TIME?

HOW CAN LUMINARY LEADERS MANAGE THEIR TIME?

By: Admiralble AYA, Eneneaseh Offu, Software Engineering Student, Admiralty University of Nigeria, Delta State.

Humans tend to waste a lot of things, such as food, electricity, money, water, tissue paper, etc. Funny enough, one would say, these are material things and they can be always recovered. One can get them anywhere through different kind of means, but come to think of it, the worst thing a man should waste is ‘TIME’. Time is Precious. In the context of this article, time wastage simply means 'devotion of time to an unnecessary activity or idleness, as a result of procrastination. As the popular saying goes, time wasted can never be recovered no matter what. The difference between time waste and material waste is that there is no salvage for a wasted time but there’s salvage for material waste. You can throw away your food today and get another tomorrow, you can waste your money today and still work to get another one, but once you waste a particular time, even the slightest second, it can never be recovered. That is exactly my point.

Today, many young people complain that they do not have enough time whereas, they waste their time doing things that add no value to their life's purpose either knowingly or un-knowingly. Attending meaningless meetings, lack of focus/purpose, mobile technology distractions, excess socialization, etc are time wasters that should be avoided. It is very essential to ascribe value to your time because how you use your time has an enormous impact on your ability to succeed. Each and every person has 24 hours in a day, but how one manages that time is dependent on the person. However, time management is an important key for a successful life, both academically and otherwise. It is the foundation for all successful lives.

Many students find it difficult to balance between their studies and day-to-day lives. And as Luminary Leaders in the making, they must learn the techniques behind good time management, which will help them to work smarter and not harder, so that even when the time is tight and pressure is high, they will get more done in less time.

Time management is simply the process of organizing and planning how to divide your time. Time management is very important in a student’s hectic schedule. It ensures students are well prepared, organized and focused to manage their daily lives and complete academic assignments on time. Nevertheless, it can lead to an upgraded success, and time management is a skill every student has to learn and practice. Time management helps to reduce the level of stress in the life of a student. It helps a student to gain self-confidence, it decreases procrastination and also provides a greater opportunity to achieve one’s career goals. However, when one fails to manage his or her time, such person has a higher stress level, tends to always procrastinate, inefficient in whatever he or she does and produces a very poor work quality.

Furthermore, how can you manage your time?

Firstly, you have to figure out your goals. Ask yourself the WH-questions.

What? Why? When? Who? And even How?

This will guide you in carrying out your activities.

After figuring what your goals are, you have to make a daily schedule. Have a to-do list or maybe you can have a jotter where you make a plan for your day-to-day activities.

Endeavor not to cheat. Stick with your schedule like it’s set in stone. Do not miss any time if not, you will more likely miss the others. So, make sure you obey your already set schedule for your daily activities.

After making your schedule, you figure out the activity that is of high value and positive effect to you. You prioritize what is most important to you. Without prioritization, you end up focusing on a pressing work, simply because a deadline is approaching. You can divide to-do’s into four groups;

1.       Pressing and essential

2.       Not pressing but essential

3.       Pressing but not essential

4.       Neither pressing nor essential

If you manage your time well, you’ll probably spend most of your time on ‘not pressing but essential’. Here, you can get the most useful things done and save yourself from feeling stress or overwhelmed later.

Furthermore, you have to be focused and do away with distractions. Everybody gets distracted at one point or another. Social media, gist from friends, noises, etc. are all distractions that needs to be avoided. Some distractions are actually easy to identify, while some are not. Nevertheless, when you’re able to identify a particular distraction, endeavor to avoid it.

Finally, you can try ‘The Four D’s’

·         If it is pressing and can be done quickly, DO IT!

·         And if it is going to take more time than you have at a moment, set aside time for it later.

·         If it is something that can be better handled by someone else, forward it to that person.

·         If it is not essential and does not concern you, DELETE IT!

Never forget that there is time for everything and time is a respecter of no man. Control your time, and see yourself excel in all ramifications.

REMAIN BLESSED!