You can read all the time management books in the world. Nothing, not even this article can help if you don’t realise the value of time. I would also like to mention that discipline plays a big part in time management or in fact any good attitude. Without discipline, you won’t be able to manage anything that you have planned, especially a timetable. You have to learn to be strict with yourself and psyche yourself to complete your tasks as per planned. You will also feel good about yourself.

There are many things you can do to bring some change in your life. Some organization.

• Always start with a clean sheet of paper. Write down the things you do everyday. E.g.; go to school, eat, bath, exercise, watch tv, help with the chores, read class notes, revision, practice playing the piano etc. Just jot everything down. You can try to give time estimation for each ‘activity’.
• Try to identify your time wasters. Cut down or completely strike out activities which hinder you from completing your important tasks. Ask yourself if you can make do without doing that activity.
• Now, ask yourself how you will be planning everything. Planner? Timetable? Mentally? I prefer the timetable. Customise it. Make it colourful. Don’t get drifted though. Make it attractive enough to capture your attention everyday. And put it somewhere or paste it in a place which you must come in contact with everyday.
• Look through your syllabus. Figure out how much time you need to cover your syllabus.
• Take baby steps. Work out your timetable for about 4-5 months initially. This will help to see if everything falls in place and if you can manage your time. Make colourful slots for each activity.
• Add in one or two fun activities, so your life is not so mundane.

I understand we are living in a very busy world with many distractions. You might have experienced this: you are on your way home from school one day and you tell yourself that you’ll reach home and complete your assignment and finish reading up on your history notes. But when you reach home, somehow, you lose track and end up doing something else. Or maybe you end up watching the television. And then you fall asleep. Or maybe you decide to take a shower. You tell yourself that you need to feel fresh in order to work better.

We keep postponing our tasks and suddenly we are experts at reciting the synonyms of the word ‘delay’ (postpone, reschedule, adjourn, defer, put-off, hold-up, etc).

Procrastination is the evil which tries to distract and conquer our minds. It stops you in your track and it fights against effective time management. In my opinion, procrastination is the root of all evil. Not money. The key is locating the cause of the problem. When do you start procrastinating and how do you do it?

Some people procrastinate due to poor levels of concentration. Some might feel overwhelmed by the tasks that have to be completed. They may not know where to begin. Some people blame their mood levels or lack of resources.

When we procrastinate, we end up losing the ability to make proper decisions and we fail to carry them out. Anything that is planned is postponed and postponed again. During this “rescheduling”, something or another is definitely lost. It says so much about your character and attitude. You start being lazy and full of excuses.

Here is how you can try to fight procrastination:

• Understand the problem within you.
• Practice giving yourself some sort of punishment if you fail to keep up to the plan.
• Be aware of the goals you want to achieve and paste them up somewhere visible.
• Get your parents or siblings involved. Request them to monitor your attitude.
• Talk to yourself occasionally and remind yourself that you have important tasks to complete and you will only do anything else upon completion of this task.
• If you have to complete your assignment, invite your friend and work together. If you see your friend concentrating and you like the way he/she is studying, then you can adopt that style.
• Arrange a comfortable environment for yourself. Make sure you feel positive. Have a neat area to avoid day-dreaming.

The idea is to focus. Don’t get up and leave half-way. Try to concentrate and complete the task. Develop the right attitude from now and you’ll find yourself managing a lot of things in the future with ease.

Some may think that time-management or drawing up a timetable is so ‘uncool’.

Why don’t you understand that it’s a personal asset? It will only HELP you.

We cannot turn the clock back. Avoid regret. Start managing your time and it will be better if you learn to do it now.