What Price Can We Put on Time?
There is no concrete answer to this question as the value a person attaches to their time depends upon person to person.It depends also on the status,gender,area,geographical location and most importantly the attitude of the person towards the importance of time.One thing is for certain.Time Gone(lost,wasted) can never be recovered.Just like a brand new car starts to Depreciate in Value the moment you drive off with it from the showroom so too our biological clocks start ticking the moment we are born from our mother`s womb and it ends when your number is called in(ie at Death).After that whatever was left unfinished in your life will have to be completed by someone else if at all its possible to do so.
In East Africa especially the coastal areas Time (whether ours or other people`s ) has no importance and therefore no value at all.We have no shortage of excuses as to why we didn`t arrive for a meeting at the required time ,why we cannot engage in economically beneficial productive activities,why we cannot sacrifice our time to undertake refresher educational courses,attend seminars,workshops which will help us better our lives.
For example when asked why a person was late for a meeting with another person(s) we say that a time of 9am means to arrive at 10.00am or even 11.00am as here in Africa we have "African Time"where it is perfectly acceptable to arrive late by 15 ,twenty or even half an hour.Sometimes we don`t show up at all and never bother to inform the other person.
Most East African coastal areas lag behind in meaningful development because our precious time we prefer to spend gossipping,sleeping for extended lengths of time,or in other activities which will not improve yours or your communities or your country`s standard of living.
We are reluctant also to take pains to improve our knowledge in areas which will not only benefit us but also other people after we develop products and/or services which will greatly benefit other people.Our Excuse?"We Don`t have Time" or "We Cannot Afford It".Come on knowledge is an investment which will reap you great rewards in the future.
Everyone in this world has just 24 hours whether you are Bill Gates,Richard Branson,The Queen of England or a peasant farmer.Time is the only resource everyone and I mean every human being in this world was given in equal measure in a day.ie,24 hrs not a second more or less.
So why do some people get far more done than others and some can do nothing at all?
The answer to that lies in attaching a value to certain blocks of time in the 24 hour period we all have.There are certain hours in the day when we can get 3 hours work done in half an hour and at other times a fifteen minute job will take us two hours.Identify your most productive hours and ruthlessly guard them from blood sucking Time Mosquitoes.Ensure your most valuable work is done then at whatever cost..Then your second most valuable work at your second most valuable time and so on.The completely unproductive activities like watching TV,idle chitchat should be done when you know you will not be able to get any meaningful work done at that time.
Identify an hourly rate for your time.Example if you are paid $3000 a month it means in a day you earn $100 assuming 30 days in a month.So per hour you are worth $100/8(8 working hours) which equals $12.50 per hour.You must ensure within those 8 working hours the activities you involve yourself in yield you far more or at least equal your hourly rate.Otherwise you have wasted away your time if you engage in activities worth far less than your hourly rate.
To Sum Up-Time is a diminishing resource.If you learn to value it it will serve you well.If you don`t value it Time will destroy you slowly and you will have only yourself to blame.
http://ineedmoretime.com/time_tips.htm
