Today, in modern-day life, where everything is rushing so fast around us we hardly have the time to notice anything. We just skim past everything and we hardly find time to do almost anything at all… But is it our crisis or that of time?

As young folks, we took time for granted and the value of time for each one of us was different. Some people, like myself, were so and still are obsessed with a mighty sword called TIME. I use minutes for my calculations; I know I take my shower in how many minutes, I have an estimate, again in minutes, for driving, of how long it will take me to get to my destination, and I believe it works with crazy traffic like Cairo’s. Others treat time as a stretch of unlimited space: So what if they’re late fifteen to twenty minutes, or even an hour and a half!

First, let us ask the main question:

WHAT IS THE VALUE OF TIME?

While it might seem direct or simple, the answer is hard to grasp. Many people consider the value of time only as the indicator of a certain day, hour, minute, yet it is more than that. The separation between time and its value happens when people rely on the number more than the effect of that number. This leads us to the following question:

HOW DO WE MEASURE TIME?

Again, the answer seems quite obvious: in hours, minutes, months, days, or years. But that isn’t true; to prove that let us shed light on some truth.

A lot of people rely on the infinity of time, so they would think that they have 20 days to finish an assignment, or 5 days to study for an exam. Although it relatively sounds like a long duration in which you would be able to overcome all your obstacles, you miss that the point is to measure the amount of time needed to accomplish a certain task, like some of you might have taken in project management courses. You need to be able to define how long it actually takes to do a certain task. If you don’t do that, your time will be in shambles.

Also, another factor that many rely on is their own psychology; personal confirmation to oneself that the time he/she allocated is actually sufficient. Believe it or not, many people randomly estimate their time management capacity, which usually turns into a fiasco. That is to say, they haven’t planned for possible inconveniences. There is no backup plan, as well. This is why we will need to ask the following question:

WHAT TO DO?

It is simple: Manage your time, and begin working on estimating time or setting time trackers for yourself to get on with certain tasks. The more you get familiar with yourself and your capacities, the more you are able to perform better, manage your time, and not end up wasting your time as well as that of others. If your behavior changes and you focus more on what you do, with time you will be able to see a pattern of behavior in your meetings, business tasks and e-mails, or an outing with friends.

You would need to track yourself; be objective, organized, and fair and honest with yourself. This is the path to self-improvement. Time is one of the things, which you as a person, have the upper hand in organizing. Of course issues that you might not be prepared for could arise, but this is an exception and not the general rule.

To apply these, try working on a simple task; one you think is a hindrance. Use it for practice, and observe how your behavior changes after a while. The result won’t disappoint you.

Time is the master that will take you up to the stars, or bury you in the depths of the earth. Make time your guide and you will win more than you can perceive.

Written By: Tarek Hassan Refaat

Edited By: Yara Mohamed