#BeInspired Mondays: Time

Hey Guys! IK Nwosu here! This column, as the name goes is meant to inspire and encourage you to strive towards achieving your personal goals everyday. I just want to share pearls picked up in the journey of life.

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Time is difficult concept to define, and this post is not an attempt to do so. However, it is generally agreed that time a progression of events from past, present and future. These events are irreversible, at least not in a way humans know of, yet.

So, what do I think about time that I want to share? Read below:

There is time for EVERYTHING

No. I don’t mean it as a time to be born or a time to die or a time to laugh and a time to cry.

Here’s what I’m saying: Time is always available for you, however, you have no control of it. So, one has to be careful what he/she does with the available time he/she has. Unplanned, unforeseen circumstances can take over the available time you think you have.

The goal therefore, is to reduce the rate at which these unforeseen and unplanned events take place by careful planning. For example, you don’t drive around with a faulty engine and begin to lament when it fails in the middle of Third Mainland Bridge, Lagos.

A part of Stephen Covey’s Seven Habits of Highly Effective People talks about this very well using a two-by-two matrix.

Quadrant 1 (Top left): Urgent & Important – These are basically emergencies. Things that demand the traditional “Fire-brigade” approach.

Quadrant 2 (Top right): Not Urgent & Important: Activities such as preparing a speech for a presentation next month. These are the activities that can be put off to a later date so as to attend to other important ones. However, care must be taken not to allow them enter Quadrant 1.

Quadrant 3 (Bottom left): Urgent & Not Important: These events are interruptions to our day to day activities – trending stories on social media, some phone calls, and unwanted visitors, e.t.c.

Quadrant 4 (Bottom right): Not Urgent & Not Important: Checking and rechecking our social media feeds/timelines falls into this category. These are activities we do to find pleasure. We use them to take a break from work. While they are good, we ought to be careful the amount of time we spend doing them, because most often than not, there is no long-term gain.

However, since social media and blogging became popular, some of these activities may be part of one’s job description, and so may be important for some.

That being said, the goal therefore, is to reduce the items in Quadrant 1, and this can be done by performing the Quadrant 2 tasks every day. Find a way to restrict the activities of Quadrant 3, and take control of how you spend your time doing Quadrant 4 stuff.

There is no time for ANYTHING

This is an offshoot of the first point. What it simply means is that until you put a time to an activity, it may remain undone.

Nothing will happen unless you make it happen. Setting a time to perform a task prepares your mind and body for it. Success is a product of deliberate actions taken over time. You cannot accidentally climb a ladder.

You can only successfully “manage your time” by managing your life through careful planning and execution.

Photo Credit: Flynt | Dreamstime