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Imagine a bank account that credits you with $ 86,400 each morning. It carries no balance forward from day to day but instead, every evening, deletes whatever part of the balance you failed to use during the day. What would you do? Withdraw and spend every cent, of course.
Each of us has such an account, which follows the same steady pattern day in, day out: time. Every morning we are credited with 86,400 seconds, and every night, the unspent or even wasted seconds are written off as a loss. It carries over no balance and no overdraft; the account is closed when we lay your head on our pillows, and a new account is then opened with each sunrise. If we fail to use the day’s credit, then the loss is ours. There is no drawing against tomorrow; we must live in the present, on today’s credit.
With our lives becoming increasingly busy, time is of the essence, and we must find ways to use it to the full and capitalise on every second. Time management has been crucial for helping me organise my tasks in line with the time at hand. This involves planning, thinking ahead, identifying my priorities and allocating my time appropriately. At Cicero & Bernay, I have enhanced my time management skills by working diligently on my schedule at the end of every working day. I compile a time-specific to-do list, which allows me to build my days around realistic estimates of the time needed to ensure tasks are competed to the best of my abilities and on schedule.
Time management has the power to alleviate stress, by ordering our days and enabling us to work smarter rather than harder. Armed with a clear plan, I’ve noticed that I’m able to get more tasks completed in less time, even when pressure is high and time is limited. They say that procrastination is the thief of time, so having a time-specific to-do list also helps me to maintain focus throughout the day. Failing to manage time appropriately ends up damaging productivity and increasing stress levels.
Since we are all allocated 24 hours, why is it that some people are able to achieve so much more with their time than others? The answer lies in effective time management, and while it may seem like there are never enough hours in the day, it is certainly worth finding the time for it.
In my opinion, we should all be striving to invest in our ‘time banks’ to get the utmost out of life. The clock is ticking; let’s make the most of the day.