24 Hours Management

There are 24 hours in a day. This is something we don't have control over, and we cannot do anything about it. While you may not be able to control this, you can manage yourself. Realizing this is the first step towards effective time management. You must look at the things that are important to you in life and devote your time to these, while making everything else secondary or eliminating them entirely from your life. I have learnt that every challenges in life carries its solution with it, and this is not different from time management. This is also far easier than you might think. It only takes a few small adjustments in the way you use your time to change your life forever.

Below is an article titled "Chicken Soup for the Soul of a Nigerian Employee" written by Leke Oshiyemi. Note that ALL you are about to read was typed on his blackberry device on his way to...
work while in traffic on Third Mainland bridge, Lagos, Nigeria. :) Hope this Inspires you.

Chicken Soup for the Soul of a Nigerian Employee.

by Leke Oshiyemi

Time is money- You’ve heard that before, and so has your employer. Someone probably told you we’re all jostling for the money; my take is they lied to you. The real war is not over money, the struggle is over a very valuable resource called “TIME“.

How do you spend your time, everyday?
What do you do with your golden 24 Hours?
The difference between a winner and a loser is in their use of time.

I know an employee who works in an extremely fast paced busy office, who’s enrolled in an online degree programme, replies all my emails pronto, shops for the household alone, attends seminars every time, and takes care of 2 children effectively as a single mother. Yet, I see on some people’s CV that their last attempt at self-development was in 19XX; their excuse? My job. No Time. My children. My husband, etc.
Honestly, I feel your pain and I know you’re being real, as a Nigerian/African. But sometimes I ask myself “Can I do more where I am right now? And the answer (though hard to accept) is always YES!
Again, I also wonder to myself;  how do prolific writers, business magnates, pastors, politicians etc, the likes of Obama, Ben Carson, Donald Trump, E.A Adeboye, Dangote, Ben Bruce, Brian Tracy etc manage their lives: work, family, spiritual, health, relationships, etc
My guess? They effectively and efficiently manage their time like a “valuable resource”. They pay serious attention to their use of the God given 24 Hours!
According to the late great business Philosopher, Jim Rohn, the best question to ask on a job is not “What am I GETTING here?”, the best question is “What am I BECOMING here?”.
I am an HR-Professional, I have interviewed loads of job seekers, and I can tell you the difference between the guy that gets the job and the rest is usually the result of HOW s/he had spent time in the past.

My recommendations:
-  Spend time to plan your day: The trick is in writing your assignments down (diaries, BB or ipad, whatever works for you), in the order of Priority. Start your daily work by attending to your “yucky duties” or what Brian Tracy called “Frogs”/assignment FIRST every day, before you enter into numbness and distractions of the day .- Read Steven Covey’s “1st Things 1st”.

-  Set a time for Social media/Emails: If you don’t, you’ll “facebook” all day, all year! Social Media is now part of our lives. Accept that and CREATE room for it. Plan your time for Social Media. Learn to say “NO” to pop-ups.

-  Readers are leaders: Try to read a good book at least once in a month. Feed your mind. Let your comments and discussions show that you’re thinking/reading. You cannot hide your empty mind. Try Audio books on CDs etc. Works magic for me. I’ve discovered the reason why you haven’t read any book this year is because you’re planning to read the whole book, truth is you probably won’t have that time. Best way, go for the most relevant chapter of the book or go for just 5-10 pages per day (Be disciplined with it), the result of this will amaze you. And if all else fails get book summaries. Imagine a 500 to 1,000 paged book now summarized into 10-20 pages! Go to: www.summary.com; www.bizsum.com; www.wikisummaries.org; www.getabstract.com; www.freebooknotes.com.
-  Before taking on that task or assignment always use this acid test “Is this the best use of my time?”

-  Improve, Improve, improve: Attend a seminar, conference, executive course.  Loads of universities (Including Ivy league schools!!!) now offer online certificate courses, Short-programmes, executive courses etc. Wow! Guys, c’mon, it’ll never get better than that.
I saw someone just yesterday, learning with an Open University, with free videos on ipad, something worth imitating.

- Use technology: Invest in a Blackberry. Leverage on Social Media (I’m big on this topic). Use MS.-Outlook for efficiency. “I’m not the techie-type” is now an officially dead excuse. This is 21st century. Go mobile. Use e-reader like “kindle”. Break out of stone-age mentality. If you cannot be ‘Googled’-up you’re “actually” not in existence-(Google). Revamp and control your avatar. Download Apps that make your work/play faster and better. Fast is the new Cool. Put your job search on hyper-drive. Use Jobberman. “Leverage” is the keyword here. (I’ll discuss this in greater details in another article).

-  Get “Dummie Books”: “The way to greatness starts from acknowledging you’re a Dummie” -Leke. There are tons of Dummie Books out there “Accounting for Dummies”, “Social Media for Dummies”.”Human Resources For Dummies” “Parenting For Dummies”..etc. Trust me. They work wonders.
I was at the bookshop yesterday in Victoria Island, Lagos, and it’s overwhelming how many books have been written on time management and personal effectiveness, invest in those books and act on their lessons. They’ll literarily transform your life. “Capital” is no longer “Cash”; it’s now “knowledge”.
These are snippets of my thoughts on my way to work this morning. And everything you read was typed on my Blackberry today while in traffic on the third mainland bridge.

#Quotes: Time = life; therefore, waste your time and waste your life, or master your time and master your life. - Alan Lakein