Time: Your responsibility to manage

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Time is an asset given to everyone no matter who they are or where they come from. Each person is given the same number of minutes – no one wakes up with more and no one is given less. We cannot collect this asset, save it, store it or carry some of it over to the following day. What we have not used in one day is lost forever and can never be reclaimed.

Isn’t it amazing then that at the end of a day, some people seem to have achieved so much whereas others do not have the same successes? Part of the achievements of successful people is based on their ability to manage their God-given time effectively.

Modern technology has changed the way we do business today. The computer has become smaller and more powerful and can retrieve data in milliseconds. We have access to the internet where we can obtain information on any topic we can think of. We can communicate with any person anywhere in the world at any time and receive a response immediately. We can be in the middle of the remotest place on Earth and speak to someone via a mobile phone. All this is designed to make business life faster and more efficient and cut down on processes. Our customers expect that we respond as quickly as technology demands.

With all this, we need to make changes. Changes to the way we use and manage our time. If we cannot play by the rules – get out of the game! As Benjamin Franklin said, “Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that’s the stuff life is made of”.

We can manage our time only if we understand how time is measured. Since the ancient civilisations, time has been measured by the stars, moon, planets and the sun. People relied on their motions to determine the years, months, and seasons. Timepieces were built in the form of sundials and water clocks to measure a day.

The Romans in the fourth century BC went on to divide a day into two equal parts; before midday and after midday. Today we carry on in the same tradition; a.m. (ante meridiem) and p.m. (post meridiem). Later these parts were broken down even further, and up until the fifteenth century, time was planned by hours. I am sure that when arranging an appointment, people did not say, “I will meet you at the crossing at 11:15”. Only in today’s fast pace has it become necessary to break down the hour into minutes. Did I say “fast-paced”? Is it not usual to hear the every-day comment, “Today has just flown by and I didn’t achieve all I wanted to”, or “I cannot believe where this year has gone”. Time, as we know it, has sped up as the years roll by and people theorise that as they grow older time seems to go faster. Ask a seven year old the same question and see if he agrees with this theory. Almost two thousand years ago, Matthew wrote in his book whilst speaking of the coming of Jesus the Messiah, “…but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened.” (Matthew 24:22, King James Version). One cannot deny the fact that we are living in the Latter Days, as mentioned in the Bible, and as a result, we need to adjust our ways to be able to cope better with our time. This then is the purpose of this book – to assist in showing you how to manage your time more efficiently and effectively. Worldwide, people have used the methods mentioned and have commented positively on their results: from having two hours more a day, to cutting down on their overtime, to reshaping their businesses.

Although this book covers the aspects of Time Management in depth, it looks at the theoretical side only. Combining this theory with the practical side makes the entire concept complete. It is recommended that the reader attend a short course as presented by the author to gain the full benefits.

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