TIME WASTAGE IS INEVITABLE

Though time wastage is inevitable, it can be reduced.

I’ll call the statement above my thesis statement. A few days ago, I realized just how much time I tend to waste. I’m exposing myself but oh well…

I am a student and though I already know the essence of time and the fact that I can use it wisely, I tend to do the opposite of that. We have been blessed with 24 hours in a day yet we seem to keep asking God to bless us with more.

As a student, you are expected to have a particular number of credit hours. These credit hours refer to the number of hours you are supposed to be in class every week. It varies with every semester.

For this semester, I am expected to have 17 credit hours. That means I am to be in class for 17 hours each week and as we know each day is made up of 24 hours. Let’s do a little bit of Math. There are 7 days in a week and lectures are attended on 5 of these days. 24 hours multiplied by the 5 days is equal to 120 hours (24 × 5 = 120).

According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, teenagers need 8-10 hours of sleep while adults (18-60) need 7 hours of sleep. As true as this may be, most of us sleep for far fewer hours while some of us tend to exceed it. I am guilty of both charges and I will not judge anyone. Let’s continue with our small Math.

Assuming we sleep for 6 hours each day that gives us 18 hours out of the total 24 hours we have (24 – 6 = 18). We have 18 hours to do whatever we have to do and run whatever errand we need to run. As a university student, I know for a fact that we do not cook every day; some don’t even cook at all. My dear ladies and gentlemen, what are you using these 18 hours for that you still keep asking for more?

Someone might say that I have not been exposed to the “real world” and that is why I seem to think that we have so much time. While that may be true, it is also not true.

Plan your day!!! Many of us have heard this several times. Believe it or not, there is a huge sense of fulfillment that comes with knowing that you planned your day well and you were able to do every thing you set out to do and even had extra time to spare.

There are several apps that enable us to plan our days and they also give reminders to the user to make sure that he/she does not forget. The simplest of these is Google Calendar. You can sync it across all your devices and all you need is a Gmail Account. This way, you have your schedule for the day on your laptop, tablet, or smartphone.

Once we fail to plan our days, we spend so much time doing “unnecessary things” and leave out the necessary things. I hope this serves as a sign to us all to make good use of the time we have instead of watching waste away.

If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail

– Benjamin Franklin