Tips on Time Management – Making Control

Home > Management > January 6th, 2009

Management: The Value of TimeYou may have seen this popular,uncredited e-mail that has widely circulated on the Internet:

•To realize the value of one year, ask a student who failed a grade.

•To realize the value of one month, ask a mother who gave birth to a premature baby.

•To realize the value of one week,ask the editor of a weekly news-paper.

•To realize the value of one hour,ask the lovers who are waiting to meet.

•To realize the value of one second,ask the person who just avoided a traffic accident.

•To realize the value of one millisecond,ask the person who won an Olympic medal.

Time has a value greater than any currency. We may leave our children the money we don’t use in our own lifetimes, but we cannot leave them one millisecond of time.

Taking Control / Managing Time Management

Make a list of items and activities that you confront on a daily or near-daily basis. Assign each a numerical value from 1 to 5, with 1 representing an item over which you have no control and 5 an item over which you have complete control.

For example

you have complete control over how you respond to the ringing of your alarm clock in the morning. You also have at least some control over whether or not you answer the telephone when it rings—more control, perhaps, at home than in the office. You may have absolutely no control of morning traffic, but you do have control over your reaction to it.

Begin by attempting to take more control of items you currently value as 4’s—that is,not quite complete control, but almost.

As you master these,begin with the 3’s. And once a month, for the next six months, update your list and your valuations, reevaluating the level of control you’re actually able to exert over each item.

As you become more conscious of both the need to take control and your power to exercise control, you should begin to see a steady improvement in your “control ratings.”

Reference : Marc Mancini (TIME MANAGEMENT,2003)