Teaching myself (TI)ME MANAGEMENT

If you are a school student, then read on.

Well as a kid you want to enjoy yourself and also enjoy with friends, family, cricket, basketball, sloth for hours, and whatnot, and also score A++ in your school exam, SAT, AP, and whatever you are studying.

Aha! There lies the issue, getting A++ in all spheres of life is a bit of a challenge. Why as a kid I have this challenge? Well, it is because I am overconfident thinking ‘my capacity’ is boundless. Once I agree with ‘me’ on the above bold words then I start to talk about correcting a few things and tweaking a few things here and there and voila! I started to manage (TI)ME.

TIME Management.

OK! First thing first. What is Time Management? Well, there is nothing called Time Management. Because Time is space and I am not saying it, the learned folks say so. Time is a fundamental aspect of the universe. We explore it through Physics and Philosophy and in our usual chit-chat. While we do measure it and even quantify it, however, the true essence is so profound that we are still trying to understand it in its entirety.

So how can you manage something like TIME? Can you manage yourself? No. That is why you with a solemn grumpy face say, “I don’t have time. I really need to work on my Time Management”.? “My Time Management"! Blue Blistering Barnacles, thundering Typhoon, what? is it your ancestral property! It's not time that you have to Manage or work on. It is “ME” that you have to work on. Manage.

Nevertheless, YOU need to have a grip on it so let’s see how it is related to the challenge I talked about earlier. Mind you, it’s not an easy process to streamline. Ask any elders, and they will tell you.

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The challenge germinates from ‘me’, being overconfident to believe that there is no limit to ‘my capacity’. Why so, because you are young. Majorly all youngsters have been-there-and-done-it at some time or the other including me and your parents [sic]!

So, first, let us face reality. ‘I have boundaries, so I have finitude.’ Veni Vidi Vici will not work for me. Period.

Next, I need to understand that ‘Me’ and ‘Time’ are two different entities. They both are not cousins even if I shout my lungs out from the rooftop. So, telling ‘ME’ and ‘Time’ are the same is like saying Apple and Mango are the same as they both are fruits! Nope. Need to handle them separately. On second thought you need not bother about Time, just look what you are doing. Stop believing you are omniscient. Stop being infatuated with your own self.

Hmm! Just a thought, did you know when humans became so finicky about time? From the time the Industrial Revolution started, suddenly every second started to count. And in no time Humans became a commodity who is instrumented and dictated as a machine by TIME. Heard the wise people saying, ‘TIME is money…’. But you never hear people say- ‘SPACE, I breathe-in is LIFE’, which by the way is an eternal truth.

WE refuse to acknowledge that you are finite beings with limited capacities.

And so.

We?make infinite rudderless planning thinking we have boundless capacity to complete all the tasks with panache. [have you noticed I mentioned WE?and not YOU on this occasion as we the seniors are also as much responsible as pushing you to that state?] So, what happens next is the failure for which sadness, frustration, depression, blaming the whole world, and the neighbor dog that barks whenever you sit to study! Happens.

Now let us see what can be done.

Start. Underestimate your time. Since it is limited. On the higher side, you have 17 hrs. every day, hypothetically considering sleep time for 7 hrs. Your time swings like a pendulum between “What I want to Do” [referring here only to the positive and good things in life] and “Others?push me on What I want to Do”. ‘Others’ here are your Parents, Teachers, Tutors, and Seniors who are your Primary pushy pushy Guyz. The secondary pushy Guyz are your friends, Technology, Social Media, and additional nonsense you have engaged with, and this bunch is your enigma.

Now You want to study, and you are doing it at your own fantasy pace and unplanned plan. However, your Parents want to encourage you to be practical, realistic, and rational which is opposite to your fantasy world. Why I am mentioning fantasy is because you think that what you think is the correct version and you know life completely at this age and the rest of the seniors jai tel leyney. Well, youngster you are utterly butterly wrong! And you will realize it only when TIME flows by Tata, Bye Bye, Gaaya! Now having said that parents are also at times… at times… a little bit wrongly pushy pushy, not getting into that because this is all about you only.

So be very critical that TIME at hand on a day-to-day basis is limited. It requires miserly nature to spend it. E.g.- If You are watching or playing your favorite video games and you have given yourself 45 mins for it. Put a timer on it. Once the bell rings the game stops. No matter if you are in the middle of it, or at a crucial point, or winning it, I don’t care. You stop it. Remember you are a miser now. Have you read Merchant Of Venice, then be like Shylock. Game stops tell yourself; I will go to the next task. And get on to it. Maybe you have to take a shower. Jolly well so be it. But you need to be a miser. Under normal conditions you may continue with the game for another 10/15 mins then you see that 10/15 mins would have been wasted. Now from this 1 instance see how many instances in a day if you are conscious you will be able to save such moments to utilize it rationally. Oh, DearZ you are on track. Bravo!

Do a few things, but consistently do it—also, no point in suggesting that you keep your phone away. You won’t and even if you do the moment you lay your hand on it you will ensure to doubly misuse the TIME that you have saved by keeping it aside.

But yes, when you are doing one of the few things that you chalked out for the day, like studying. Then keep the phone away so that the buzz will not disturb you. And there is no such data that says that when you keep your phone far far away while you study all hell breaks loose and YOU are the only one summoned frantically to save the world and behold you missed that SOS. Nehi hota hai aisa! Bramh hai woh.

Next. Buy a colored A4 chart paper to your liking. Color sketch pens too. Draw the routine format you want to follow with weekdays and time slots as per your creativity. Then plot the task and the time based on your priority. E.g.- For next week you have your Karate championship then Practice will be a task that is given top priority color code RED. Next is your School Tuition/coaching, ORANGE color code. And then the lowest priority in BLUE color with the task and timeline marked. Now as you go on achieving the plan put a TICK mark or a smiley. Likewise, the one you couldn’t, put a cross or your grumpy face ??.

Result. The more smiley means you are on track and can do even better to achieve all the weekly task completion. But if the grumpy face is more in number than-

1. Relook into your plan.

2. Ask at least 5 times why that task is not completed.

The answer you get will be the root cause of it. Eliminate or bypass that reason and set your mission for the next week with a new set of plans.

Oh, by the way, when we plan to fool others we invariably start by ourselves. Statutory warning. ??

Study time. Since the attention span has shrunk and in your age category the span is roughly between 28 mins to 48 mins so check it out. Hypothetically let’s say you can concentrate for 30 minutes at a stretch then stick to that timeline. Study smart for 30 mins & your gadgets, and phone are all away kept far and behind you (I have seen kids unknowingly give a sheepish glance time and again towards the phone as if very concerned someone may steal it from her/his room. You know what is happening then? You are not concentrating, and your focus is not in/on your book BUT on the lifeless weird thing called the mobile phone). So, keep it far and behind you. Let your folks know that you are not to be disturbed. Initially, they will feel you are up to something fishy but with TIME they will be happy.

After 30 mins if you feel your concentration is withering away then take a 5 min power break. Why I am saying power break is because you will in that 5 min move away from your study desk and take a stroll. Not getting into any activity, no chit-chat with family. No checking phones. You are actually giving your brain a well-deserved rest so that you can go back and start the next 30-minute study. With this study-break schedule, you will be able to hit the bullseye. Try it. And then you will know what I am talking about. Likewise in your tasks, you will also have games, meeting friends, or any such drills, do that also with the same focus and miserly timing it out.

With practice, you will be able to set your unique way of managing space that we all call ‘Time Management’.

But buddy you have to be consistent if you are looking for success.

I never knew anyone to date who got success overnight just like that (I am not referring to instances like winning the lottery). If you come across such a kid do knock me.

Till then. All the Best in life.

Well kids YOU are the HOPE!

Stay Healthy & Keep Smiling.