TIME is the equal commodity which God gives to everyone in equal measure. It is the greatest  gift which God bestows on man. It is life’s trading commodity which every living being must trade with. Time, to some scholars, is a seed which when planted must be nurtured to yield a bountiful harvest. Some also regard it as  an invisible natural resource  available to all and sundry.

    Time, like other natural resources, is precious, but limited. It is the most precious of all the available resources to man. The way each person places priority on it differs from one individual to another. Professors, philosophers and other scholars have defined time in different perspectives. It is one of the common commodities available to man but could be fast-spent. Being conscious of time is a tool to control one’s time.

    Time is easy to acquire, because it is sourced from nature and it is also quickly spent. If time had been money, many would have demanded for billions and trillions of hours. Very unfortunate, it is the other way round. The same 24 hours are utilised by both the white and the black race, the young and the old,  the rich and the poor. Time bridges the gap between the rich and the poor. Time is the moderator of our lives. Life is subdued to daily timing. Time is more of the fragrance of life. It makes life worth numbering. This is what gives value to life. The age and advancement of an individual would have been impossible without this moderating tool. Man’s achievement in life is attributed to the concept of time.

Initially, time management referred to just business or work activities, but eventually, the term broadened to include personal activities as well. Managing one’s time involves the process of planning and exercising conscious control over the amount of time spent on specific activities, especially to increase efficiency or productivity. This may be aided by a range of skills, tools, techniques used to manage time when accomplishing specific tasks, projects and goals complying with a due date. This set encompasses a wide scope of activities and these include planning, allocating, setting goals, delegation, analysis of time spent, monitoring, organising, scheduling and prioritising.

Managing one’s time is equivalent to managing one’s life, since it is a project, and a necessity in any project development as this, determines the project’s completion time and scope. Managing one’s time invoves measurement of performance. You cannot manage what you cannot measure. When performance is measured, life itself improves.

The management of this resource can be effective  and efficient by setting personal goals. These goals are recorded and may be broken down into project, an action plan, or a simple task list. For individual task or goal, an importance rating may be established, deadlines may be set and priorities assigned. This process results in a task list or a schedule or calendar of activities. Time governs the past, present and future.

Once the concept of timing is got correctly, the mistake of the past can effectively be curbed. Many are still living under the shadow of the past, due to inability to utilise their yesterday’s time well. The problem which many of us are facing today is our negligence of the concept of timing.

If one forecasts into the future through planning and recording, hardly does such person make mistake about such projections of his life. Life and time are twin brothers that work hand -in -hand. They are mutually related. Time is limited by three things: The knowledge in the mindset, the strength of the character and the principle of life building. The fact that you failed yesterday does not mean you will fail tomorrow. Mr Patrick Ighabor once said, ‘’yesterday’s dung is today’s fertilizer.” Good time managers are champions of their fortune and future. A second, minute or  hour lost of time can never be regained. In order for an individual to forge ahead and yield positive results, such individual must be time conscious. Many Nigerians over the years came perilously close to disaster due to inadequate knowledge of time management.            

Though we all have equal time, but different ways of utilising the time.Time management is an essential ingredient in our daily life. Application of this principle of time management prudently makes one a manager of time. A renowned philosopher once said, “no man is rich enough to buy the past.” As leaders,  future-oriented patriots, we have to place priority on our daily time management.

The concept of time management can never be overemphasised, since it concerns every second of every minute and hour of each day of our lives.

Managing one’s time effectively is the greatest investment of any future –oriented fellow. The management  of time involves the setting out of precise goals,monitoring and placing priority on each.

The star of any focus and determined individual is one’s ability to manage the time well.

What favour and gift does one need to ask for when everyone of us has this as a free gift of nature? One can only ask God for the wisdom to manage one’s time well. Its management makes the different impact on the lives of everyone of us.The rich are getting richer because they study this principle extensively.

Managing  one’s time involves planning, strategizing, forecasting, recording, directing and co-ordinating  one’s set goals, dreams and vision in order to attain  one’s desired goal and a fulfilled life in the long run. Prudence and efficiency are the two key terms that revolve the management  of time.

Life is too short my fellow Nigerians. We must, therefore, be effective and efficient in the management of our time, in order to achieve our desired goals.

Long live the Federal Republic of Nigeria!!

Ighabor, a corps member, wrote in via This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it m

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