LEARNING EFFECTIVE TIME MANAGEMENT

Time is money. I’m sure we’ve heard this saying over and over again.

But it’s like this over flogged issue hasn’t really sunk in to our heads… it needs to. That’s my sole reason for writing this post.

Time management and efficiency are huge factors in determining how much money you’re able to make in whatever you lay your hands on.

The biggest thing you can do to improve your use of time is to recognize where your time is currently being spent, and plan ahead to keep yourself on track. It’s very common for anyone to be unsure about how they really allocate their time. It’s difficult to improve and to accurately schedule your days if you’re not certain about where you’re starting from. – Design M.ag

Seriously, we need to understand what it means to manage time. I read this piece somewhere and well, I think it sums up what I’m trying to put across…

To realize the value of one year; Ask a student who has failed a final exam.
To realize the value of one month; ask a mother who has given birth to a premature baby.
To realize the value of one hour; Ask the lovers who are waiting to meet.
To realize the value of one minute; ask the person who has missed the train, or bus or plane.
To realize the value of one second; ask a person who has survived an accident.
To realize the value of one millisecond; Ask the person who has won silver at the Olympics.

Time is essential. We have 24 hours in one day and we need to do everything to make sure each minute counts. Ok, so we are meant to sleep 8 hours in 1 day, aye? That leaves us with 16 hours. Maybe personal hygiene, for example bathing and all those em, important stuff will take 2 hours max – (Jeez, what are you using 2 hours to do in the bathroom?) and then we are left with 14 hours. You are accountable for those 14 hours, bro. That’s why some of us are rich and some of us are poor. Then you take 2 hours for eating, (I mean breakfast, lunch and dinner, not just 1 meal!) So we have 12 hours. Using those 12 hours effectively will determine how we make it in life.

Some great men refused to use the ‘allocated’ 8 hours to sleep. They toiled and burned their midnight oil. That’s why we hear of them today. So they added the 12+8=20 hours to be productive.

USING YOUR TIME WELL.

Now, as a web designer, I charge for every hour of my time. If I am talking to a client, he’s paying for my time; if I am designing a website, he’s paying for my time. If I’m watching YouTube videos, that’s my problem; I’m still gonna have to meet my deadline tomorrow by noon. Ouch.

It is how you use time that will determine how the coming years will be to you.

Bill gates, reportedly earns 4 million every single day. (I did my research. I can’t remember the source though. 🙁 Sorry.) Do you think he just woke up and started earning 4m? Nah. He had used his earlier years to pay for it, using his time to design the Microsoft Software that we all use now.

Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook is among the world’s top 20 richest men. Think he just strolled into it? Nah. Where were we when he was spending hours in his room designing The Face software for his college alumni?

The fact is that everyone has 24 hours a day. Bill Gates, Donald Trump, Robert Kiyosaki and Warren Buffet all have 24 hours a day, not a second more.

Everyone has a fixed amount of time, the difference is how do you use your time and what do you do with it. If you use up all your time, its like using up all your money.

Imagine your time is 24 dollars. Everybody is given that 24 dollars. Some people will invest it, save it, while some spend it shamelessly. That is what differentiates us, how we spend our time.

INVESTING TIME.

I spent 5 years in Uni, 1 year doing National Service, 6 years high school, 2 years learning how to play the guitar…  that’s almost >13 years of my life in one form of education or the other. Now, I am a web designer, and I earn 5 figures for every stroke of my mouse as a freelancer. (Hope to increase that soon! 😀 )

In many ways time is more valuable than money. You’ll always have the opportunity to make more money, but once time has been spent it’s gone forever. When you think of time as a commodity, and all of your actions as investments, it changes the way you approach every day decisions.

When you invest 3 hours of your time in the gym, you end up with a great body. Invest your youth in night parties & gigs, you end up being em, em, you know what. Time is money. Time is greater than money. The more time you invest in learning your trade, the more money you make in that trade.

WASTING TIME.

God, wasting time is common. I think I should earn 1st price for time wasters award. How do we waste time?

• Using 24 hours to tweet.
• Sleeping.
• Watching TV.
• Endless hours on Facebook.
• 24 hours browsing and surfing the internet. For what???