Man in creation is a rational being and has assigned to himself many functions – social, religious or spiritual, business, and a host of other responsibilities. To succeed therefore, man must learn to apportion time for every of his labor or daily activities, so that his labor will not be in vain. Time management refers to the way that you organize and plan how long you spend on specific activities.
By Dr. Jonathan Isibor.
It is generally acknowledged that twenty four hours make up a day but to many persons this period is never enough to achieve the tasks they intend to accomplish.
Why is this so? Why is it that some people achieve so many accomplishments with their time than others?
Simple! Why some are busy doing everything and divide their attention between so many different tasks, other wiser persons are more focused and concerned with getting results from every activity they engage in, making them the happier for it.
It is often common to hear certain individuals being scornfully referred to as being busy doing nothing! According to Baltasar Gracian “A wise person does at once, what a fool does at last. Both do the same thing; only at different times.”
In my collage days, my dad used to advise myself and my other siblings to be time conscious.
Sometimes he would jokingly reiterate that ‘Time and tide wait for no man; at other times he would say, “Make hay while the sun shines”.
Another of his common sayings was that we must ‘Hit the nail while the iron is hot.
Growing up into adulthood, I began to appreciate the old man’s admonitions. They now appealed to my conscious mind with much impact and understanding. I began to appreciate the philosophical basis of his usual reminders.
The reason or rationale behind time management has being referenced in many old and ancient texts.
Some individuals have adhered strictly to these expectations and achieved success and fame while many others have fallen by the way side because they lived a life not properly planned.
William Shakespeare, the famous English writer once wrote, “There is a tide in the affairs of man, which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune.”
In another old text, “Unto thee I grant – the Economy of life”, it is written, “Whatsoever thou resolveth to do, do it quickly, defer not till the evening what the morning may accomplish”.
This again reminds one of the songs usually rendered by kindergarten children during their break time, and which goes thus: “Tick says the clock, tick, tick, what you have to do, do quick”.
Yet another text that refers to time management, and the need to live an ordered life, can be found in the Holy Bible.
In Ecclesiastes 3, one of the beautiful verses with a sound philosophical import reads thus: “There is a time for everything and a season for every activity under the heavens; a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to reap……”
According to philosophers, creation in the hands of God was a perfect geometrical masterpiece. Creation itself was a time conscious exercise done to precision and without mistakes.
The growth of life in the animal kingdom, the leafy vegetables and the forest trees, the unending “relay race” between the hours of night and day, the movements of the galaxies and the planets, all have to adapt to ordered sequences and repeated cycles of action and reaction.
Anything contrary to this law ends up in chaos and, in the life of human, confusion and sometimes irreparable damage.
Man in creation is a rational being and has assigned to himself many functions- social, religious or spiritual, business, and a host of other responsibilities.
To succeed therefore, man must learn to apportion time for every of his labour or daily activities, so that his labour will not be in vain.
Stress can result from a poorly planned life and this can have dire consequences on man; consequences such as unnecessary worries, hypertension, stoke, mental confusion and even death. The lesson to learn here is the need to be self-disciplined in all that we do.
If you develop the bad habit of always working behind schedule, or not keeping to time schedules, it is not that you do not have enough time at your disposal.
You have exactly the same number of hours per day that were given to achievers like Louis Pasteur, Mother Theresa, Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Jefferson, Albert Einstein, Nelson Mandela, Mary Slessor, Chinua Achebe, Philip Emeagwali, Alexander Fleming, Sir Victor Uwaifo and a host of others who have impacted humanity positively.
Browsing through some health related monographs, I came across the following valuable information which I can share with my readers.
I regard this as functional tools for regulating one’s activities to flow with the natural rhythm of life in order to attract more value to life.
In the ordinary daily physiological functions of the human body, the body requires a period of sleep, a period of wakefulness, a period of rest and a period of work.
Thus, a 24-hour period can be organized into a four quadrant system to take care of the aforementioned activities or functions.
Specifically, the circadian rhythm is an internal biological clock that regulates a variety of biological process according to an approximately 24- hour cycle.
This is found in most living things, including animals, plants and many microbes.
The term circadian comes from Latin words that literally mean around the day, and the study of circadian rhythms is called chronobiology.
Recent scientific studies reveal that disruptions to the circadian rhythm can affect the growth of blood vessels in the body, thus causing illness such as diabetes, obesity, and cancer.
We see therefore that the importance of timing in the functioning of the living system cannot be overemphasized.
Researches have also revealed that the digestive processes within the human body function maximally according to specific timing.
On a daily basis, we take food (Appropriation), we absorb and use some of that food (Assimilation), and we get rid of what we do not use (Elimination).
Although each of these functions is always going on to some extent, each is more intense during certain hours of the day.
Specifically, the appropriation cycle during which time we take in food and the latter gets digested, occurs between 12 noon and 8:00pm.
The assimilation period lasts between 8:00pm to 4:00am daily, while the period of elimination lasts for between 4:00am to noontime.
Thus, the wise man would refrain from loading his system with a heavy meal during the elimination period.
Continuing with my search to explore ways and means of making one’s life a meaningful journey on this path of the great divide, I came across a book written by Dr Harvey Spencer Lewis and titled, “Self-Mastery and Fate with the Cycle of Life”.
What intrigued me most on reading this book was the huge practical information relating to the title of this article-“time management’.
This book describes the division of the 24 hours of each day into 7 equal periods beginning at midnight.
According to this scheme or classification certain periods are more favourable than others and tend to attract more natural cooperation in the affairs of man.
What this means therefore is that the universe is an ordered entity rather than just functioning on the basis of mere chance.
For instance, it is related in this book that there is in human life a 7-year period of development.
During each cycle, certain characters of man express themselves and that is the most appropriate time of one’s life to act or work on important issues of life.
In time past, and across many cultures, our predecessors for reasons known to them have worshipped the Sun and the Moon.
The two major seasons of the year, the wet and the dry seasons influence mankind differently with their peculiar characteristics.
Scientific and metaphysical investigations have revealed infallible truths concerning the effects of radiation of the Sun and Moon on human affairs.
The lunar cycle for instance, has its own influence on the affairs of man. Have you ever wondered about the origin of the word “lunatic” in relation to the mood of some persons?
However, as valuable information to my readers, the lunar cycle is approximately 28 days in duration, consisting of two halves of 14 days each, that is, 14 days between the appearance of the new Moon and the full Moon.
This is usually referred to as the waxing phase of the Moon, and another 14 days between the full Moon and the appearance of the new Moon which constitutes the waning phase.
The waxing phase of this lunar cycle, that is, from the appearance of the crescent- shaped Moon to the time of full appearance when it assumes a spherical or lemon-shape, constitutes a more propitious period to attract success to you.
Our prayers and petitions, our meditations and mental activities tend to be more effective during this period.
Put differently, in the course of the waxing phase, the harmony between the Moon and the Cosmic rays and the other Cosmic forces is the greatest.
While this does not necessarily negate the importance of other days of the month, it is pertinent to remember that for every purpose under the heavens there is a most propitious time.
Remember I mentioned earlier that my father used to advise me to ‘Strike the iron when it is hottest.’
Let me end this article and leave you to meditate on some famous inspirational and motivational quotes, which are most relevant to the title of this article.
“Many people seem to think that success in one area can compensate for failure in other areas. But can it really?…True effectiveness requires balance.”
— Stephen Covey.
“Never let yesterday use up today.”— Richard H. Nelson.
“One worthwhile task carried to a successful conclusion is worth half-a-hundred half-finished tasks.”— Malcolm S. Forbes
“To think too long about doing a thing often becomes its undoing.”— Eva Young
“The surest way to be late is to have plenty of time.”
— Leo Kennedy
Dr. Jonathan Isibor is an Associate Professor of Microbiology at Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma, Edo State of Nigeria. He can be reached at: joe_isibor@yahoo.com
