Time is every thing

April 15, 2010
While rummaging through the Internet(as I always do in between office shores), I stumbled on this beautiful article on time and felt it is worth a memorabilia:

To be a very good mediocre, under achiever or failure, try mismanaging your time. A quote by Harvey MacKay reads "Time is free, but it's priceless. You can't own it, but you can use it. You can't keep it, but you can spend it. Once you've lost it you can never get it back.”

Some years back , I was listening to a preacher who spoke briefly on time management and he said " Time is an unbeliever because it never forgives. Waste time and you'll eventually find out time has wasted you". As I pondered on that statement and found out it is so true". For example if you allocated an hour to do a task but fail to do it at that particular time, you will never regain that hour. The task could be done sometime later but that particular hour wasted can never be regained.

Since time is so valuable, time management is very essential in life and in order to be successful, one needs to be a very good time manager. Good time management isn't just about keeping busy like many people do, it is about making every second count and making real progress towards personal goals set. It is often said that time is the only gift everyone one has equally, so what then makes Mr A more successful than Mr B? FMJ put some post up on the imanage wall a while back and it read "The only gift you have in the same amount as everyone else is TIME!Whatever you don't have, you've been unwilling to exchange your time for".

This quote brings me to the conclusion that how far you go in life depends on how well you manage your time.

Below are a few tips on effective time management!
* Set specific and realistic goals with deadlines

* Understand the difference between what is urgent and what is important ( For more info, check out the important vs urgent model by FMJ on the iManage group photos)

* Identify what steals your time and tackle them

* Avoid procrastination! Do what you can now, don't put off till tomorrow what you can do today.

* Stay focused, disciplined and dedicated, avoid interruptions and distractions.

It is also useful to take time out of our daily routine just to reflect on how much progress we are making and what we really want from life. We can ask questions like " Yesterday,did I do what I needed to do? Did I do what I wanted to do? Did I do what I need not have done?. What can I do to make my today better? What do I want to achieve at the end of the day? What are my priorities for the day? What do I want out of life in the future? How am I going to achieve it? How long will it take me ? "

"Don't say you don't have enough time. You have exactly the same number of hours per day that were given to Helen Keller, Pasteur, Michaelangelo, Mother Teresa, Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Jefferson, and Albert Einstein.” -H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

Eventually the question is: to be or not to be? However, that is still not the question!


 

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There are two things involved in life- it is either a 1 or 0. You are either alive or dead. Winning or losing. Conquering or being drawned in the affairs of life. There is no place in - between, no boundary, no comfort zone- I want to win!

Life is simple in its grandest, and gorgeous in its most mundane. The path we choose is dependent on us and us alone. And wherever it steers, and whatever challenges it brings our way; it is never beyond our control.

This explains my view about life---

When things in your life seem almost too much to handle,
When 24 Hours in a day is not enough,
Remember the mayonnaise jar and 2 cups of coffee.

A professor stood before his philosophy class and had some items in front of him.  When the class began, wordlessly, he picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with golf balls.

He then asked the students if the jar was full. They agreed that it was.

The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the Jar.  He shook the jar lightly.  The pebbles rolled into the open
areas between the golf balls.

He then asked the students again if the jar was full..
They agreed it was.

The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar.
Of course, the sand filled up everything else.
He asked once more if the jar was full. The students responded with an unanimous "yes."

The professor then produced two cups of coffee from under the table And poured the entire contents into the jar, effectively filling the empty space between the sand. The students laughed.

"Now," said the professor, as the laughter subsided,
"I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life.


The golf balls are the important things -  family, children, health,
Friends, and favourite passions - things that if everything else was
Lost and only they remained, your life would still be full.

The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, house, and
Car.

The sand is everything else --the small stuff.

"If you put the sand into the jar first," he continued,
"there is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls.
The same goes for life.

If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff,
You will never have room for the things that are
Important to you.

So...

Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness.
Play with your children.  Take time to get medical checkups.
Take your partner out to dinner.  Play another 18.

There will always be time to clean the house and fix the disposal.

"Take care of the golf balls first --the things that really matter.
Set your priorities.  The rest is just sand."

One of the students raised her hand and inquired
What the coffee represented.

The professor smiled.  "I'm glad you asked".
It just goes to show you that no matter how full your life may seem,
there's always room for a couple of cups of coffee with a friend."

Please share this with someone you care about, life does not have to be work and work and work and work. There are some good in this life worth holding tight inspite of busy schedules and choking routines!

My web page is still under-construction!


My core interest


James Olabode Samuel I am a software programmer(ISV) training to become an enterprise architect, designing standalone and enterprise applications for private, NGO and government agencies in Nigeria. Though I was trained a civil/structural engineer. I love my profession. I programme mainly .NET/C#, Java for enterprise and web apps, HTML and Ajax. I also manage MySQL, Oracle (PL/SQL and iSQL *Plus) and SQL Server databases in my qpplications. Although I still double as a structural engineer-- running design and analysis for highrise buildings. And I create time to play too- necessary for the complex mix. Am content with my station in life, although I never cease from striving - to be better and more efficient in all I do!

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