28 February, 2010

The value of time

Time is part of the measuring system used to sequence events, to compare the durations of events and the intervals between them, and to quantify the motions of objects. With time there has been development of some cute sayings about time with different meanings conceptualized within a specified context. As such, I will not give any meaning to any of the sayings as used to avoid confusions based on the origin of the ‘’concept’’ and ‘’context’’ in which they are used. For instance ‘No hurry in Africa’ ‘Time is money’ ‘Time is making ability’ (Some say: time is makangability!!! Back in school, remember them days hehhehe!!)

While making sense of TIME, take an example of a bank account that credits your account each morning with thousands of pounds/shillings/Euro or any other currency. Bear in mind that it carries over no balance from day to day. Every evening the bank deletes whatever balance in part or wholly that you failed to use during the day. What would you do? Hehe! The answer is obvious ‘Draw out every cent, of course!. In this context everyone of us have such a bank account goes by the name ‘TIME’

Every morning, it credits you with thousands of seconds. In the evening it writes off as lost, whatever of this you have failed to invest to a good purpose. And no chance is given to explain why you did not do something on time as planned/scheduled. Above all, it carries over no balance. It allows no over draft. The next day it opens a new account for you. Each night it burns any remains of the day. If you fail to use the day's deposits, the loss is yours. You can’t reserve for tomorrow or later times for there is no drawing against "tomorrow." For that case you must live in the present on today's deposits only. It’s non-negotiable. Invest it so as to get from it success, happiness and timely achievement!
The clock is running!! Make the most of it today.

To realize the value of TEN YEARS, ask a newly Divorced couple
To realize the value of FOUR YEARS, ask a graduate
To realise the value of ONE YEAR, ask a student who failed a final exam.
To realize the value of NINE MONTHS, ask a mother who gave birth to a still born.
To realise the value of ONE MONTH, ask a mother who has given birth to a premature baby.
To realise the value of ONE WEEK, ask the editor of a weekly newspaper.
To realise the value of ONE HOUR, ask the lovers who are waiting to meet.
To realise the value of ONE MINUTE, ask a person who just missed a train/flight/bus etc.
To realise the value of ONE SECOND, ask someone who just avoided an accident.
To realise the value of ONE MILLISECOND, ask the person who won a silver medal at the Olympics.

Treasure every moment that you have! And remember TIME waits for no one.
This is why they say ‘Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. Today is a gift. That's why it’s called the present. So every passing minute is another chance to turn it all around. In this case ‘Remember the past, plan for the future, but live for today, because yesterday is gone and tomorrow may never come. In essence the main idea here is all about ‘TIME MANAGEMENT’.

In my experience, back in Tanzania I witnessed some mismanagement of time in one way or the other. For instance if time for an appointment is 2pm, it’s possible to make it at 3pm or later than that. A friend can even wait for 2hrs for an appointment. Things are different in the developed world i.e UK; no one reserves time for you, once you’re late your chances varnish accordingly. The only remedies probably start a fresh booking appointment. Example I happened to miss at least 7 or more important appointments in the difference of 2 to 3 minutes late in different offices.

I therefore learnt to be on time though it’s hard to cope especially when you’re not used to. Here time is everything; time is what decides what, where and when to do something. For example even decision making must be timely, likewise news from any media must be timely to make sense in aspects of communications and many others. Since at least everything is time manned, we really need to budget time to smoothly accomplish our day to day commitments as well as goals. It is my hope those in the UK and other places where time management is higly considered will strongly support what I’ve said, while those planning to come (UK) welcome but ‘MIND TIME’ otherwise you will suffocate. That’s all I’ve for today! Enjoy..