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This monosyllabic four(4) letter word is one of the quintessences of life. Be it as it may, the word time is one global word used routinely by everyone including the kindergarten pupils. Sadly, very few have been able to comprehend it and essentially apply it to their endeavours in life.
Different persons have come up with different definitions, based on their perceptions, interactions and experiences with the subject matter. Physics is one subject that expounds time as well. I will just furnish us with a definition that I excerpted from Wikipedia which defines time as the “indefinite continued progress of existence and events that occurred in apparently irreversible succession from the past through the present to the future.”
“Time is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to compare the duration of events or the intervals between them and to qualify rates of change of quantities in material reality or in the conscious experience.“
These two definitions caught my fancy because it captures certain pieces of information I intend to communicate to you in this concise piece. The subject matter has been a thing of concern to me for almost a decade now. This is because I found out that the unit of life is time. It bewilders me seeing how unscrupulous the chunk of the earth inhabitants(mankind) use kid gloves to treat something as serious as time. Are you not aware that life on earth is not eternal? Life here on earth is short spanned, meaning life on earth is measurable. But eternity is immeasurable that is to say the unit of life which I told you is time, is immaterial. But we are concerned about the life on earth that has got time as its unit of measurement.
I put it to you that whosoever gets a whole of your time has control over your destiny. Note that anyone who is able to gain mastery over time, inevitably becomes a formidable force to be reckoned with, that is, a global phenomenon. Friends time is of the essence and trivializing it is existing without a focus. The neglect of time is an open invitation to poverty and consequently slavery.
I have observed growing up as a child that Africans are obsessed about respect, and this is determined through a series of acts such as reptilian obeisance, prostration, shyness, good conducts, mannerisms, etc. All these things are good, but one greatest indicator of respect that I’ve been able to decipher is ‘time’. My take and believe is that anyone who respects your time respects your person and that to me is the true definition of being respectful. Conversely, anyone who disrespects your time disdains you.
The crux of this piece is to combat the age-long appellation “African time”
I hate it when people say that to my hearing. The emphasis is on ‘HATE’. Not everybody is living or leading an unfocused life,certain individuals have sold themselves to purpose and have learnt the act of accounting for time usage. How then will you schedule an appointment with someone with a forecast that he is going to come late? with comments like he’s a Nigerian, it’s part of us.
Oga! Straighten up!! Not everybody is careless with their time. Certain individuals wake up every day, with the day already premeditated with time allotted to the routine for that day. Do not be the one to mess up their schedules. Principled men are time managers. Any man out there who’s been able to accentuate time is an enigma and fun to be with. We often times label them as being too strict or overly too serious with life. But that is not true, it’s just because we are not willing to measure up and so communication becomes impossible with them.
A devotee to time management will be celebrated in life. Life is too short for rat chasing, make a commitment to keep to time in all your endeavours, I mean be prompt and punctual. Time on its own doesn’t change things, it’s what you do with it that change things. Do you want to earn people’s respect and trust? Then you must learn to adhere strictly to time. Do not go about forcing people to respect you by putting up a pseudo personality or by screaming at the top of your voice that you are a timekeeper, your actions in time adherence should do that for you.
I have a soft spot for time adherers. I spontaneously admire them and I do not take their companionship or any appointment of any sort with them for granted. Over the years, time adherers have proven themselves to be illustrious, resourceful, witty inventors, etc. One good reason as to why Africa is still backwards today is because of her mentality towards time.
The whites allot time to every one of their activities and are strictly adherent to actualizing them. No one indulges time and not reap her benefits.
Perhaps you are there wondering on how to make the most of the time at your disposal in order to amount to something substantial in life, here are a few tips for you.
- Decision: Until there is a resolute decision, there can’t be a realization. You must have acknowledged the fact that you are terrible in time adherence. A cognitive reprisal on time will aid your decision making, afterwards, you shouldn’t waver on it.
- Commitment and dedication: Be committed to your decision with a ‘never say die’ mentality. What will make time management a delight to you is consistent practice such as having a premeditated catalogue of events with time allotted to every activity, deliberately fixing appointments to test your progress, etc.
- Respect for others: My take is that if you respect others, you won’t want to stand them up after booking an appointment with them.
- Discipline: This entails mind training, cutting junks or activities that are not necessary or precarious to your existence. I’m an advocate of strict time adherence until the appellation “African time” is extinct.
In conclusion, never assume that every Nigerian out there subscribes to the African time madness, brace yourself up and maximize your day, making it count by observing every second, minute and hour. Remember that we all have 24 hours each day what you do with it is solely dependent on you.always recount that the game changer is TIME.
