What is time ?
Time means the progress of events, and also the way in which this progress of events is measured .Time can be measured objectively using clocks or the movement of the seasons, for instance. These concepts of time tell us when to get up to go to work, when to meet with friends etc .Time is a word with a Germanic origin. The old English and Germanic words ‘tide’ and ‘tima’ both mean time. However, they also mean tide (as in the tides of the sea).
How time is valuable in life?
A lot of people believe money is their most important resource but we think they're misguided. Time is a special resource that you cannot store or save for later use. Everyone has the exact same amount of time each day. You can get more money through various avenues but once time is gone, it's gone forever. You can't buy more or borrow more, so time is a limited resource that expires every day.
Time is invaluable. In-fact, time is more valuable than money. Time is very valuable partly for the reason that we are all only allotted a certain amount of time in our lives, and so we need to make sure that we use it wisely. Nothing can stop the flow of time. Time once past cannot be brought back by any means.
Then how to manage time
Well, there’s a popular time management analogy called the “rock, pebbles, and sand story.”
philosophy professor stood before his class with some items on the table in front of him. When the class began, wordlessly he picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with rocks, about 2 inches in diameter.
He then asked the students if the jar was full. They agreed that it was.
So the professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles, of course, rolled into the open areas between the rocks.
He then asked the students again if the jar was full. They agreed it was.
The professor picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else.
He then asked once more if the jar was full. The students responded with a unanimous “Yes.”
“Now,” said the professor, “I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life. The rocks are the important things – your family, your partner, your health, your children – things that if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full.
The pebbles are the other things that matter – like your job, your house, your car.
The sand is everything else. The small stuff.”
“If you put the sand into the jar first,” he continued “there is no room for the pebbles or the rocks. The same goes for your life.
If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff, you will never have room for the things that are important to you. Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness. Play with your children. Take your partner out dancing. There will always be time to go to work, clean the house, give a dinner party and fix the disposal.
Take care of the rocks first – the things that really matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just sand.”
Our thinking pattern
Our behavior can be defined by two different zones in the brain: “thinking” and “reactive” brain. The reactive part is the oldest. It goes back to the times when ancient hunters had to escape the saber-toothed tiger. Nothing has changed until today (not counting the fact that tigers became extinct). The reactive brain triggers “fight-or-flight” mechanism and other automatic reactions that let us survive. It also occupies the larger part of our brain — which helps us understand why it is so powerful . The thinking brain allows us to reflect and take decisions consciously. However, this rational part won’t work properly if we are threatened, stressed or gripped by emotions. It also takes more energy and time than the reactive brain. Literally, it requires effort to think
When we are faced with urgent tasks, our reactive brain steps in. We rush doing them without much thought. The sense of accomplishment makes us feel extremely good. This can evolve to a real “urgency addiction”. What’s bad about this?
Urgent tasks are not necessarily important. We start doing things simply because they seem to be critical. We like feeling busy and energetic, and our brain supports this feeling by producing dopamine. When things calm down it turns out that we have wasted the whole day on trivial matters.
Time management matrix :
In Quadrant 1 (top left) we have important, urgent items – items that need to be dealt with immediately.Example: Family Emergencies, Real, hard deadlines for important projects
In Quadrant 2 (top right) : we have important, but not urgent items – items that are important but do not require your immediate attention, and need to be planned for. This quadrant is highlighted because Covey emphasizes this is the quadrant that we should focus on for long term achievement of goals. Example: Exercise, your career path, Maintaining relationships with family and friends
In Quadrant 3 (bottom left) : we have urgent, but unimportant items – items which should be minimized or eliminated. These are the time sucks, the “poor planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part” variety of tasks.Example: phone call, email, travel
In Quadrant 4 (bottom right): we have unimportant and also not urgent items – items that don’t have to be done anytime soon, perhaps add little to no value and also should be minimized or eliminated. These are often trivial time wastersExanple: watching tv, movie, playing game on pc , unnecessary waste time in social media etc.
He then asked the students again if the jar was full. They agreed it was.
The professor picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else.
He then asked once more if the jar was full. The students responded with a unanimous “Yes.”
“Now,” said the professor, “I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life. The rocks are the important things – your family, your partner, your health, your children – things that if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full.
The pebbles are the other things that matter – like your job, your house, your car.
The sand is everything else. The small stuff.”
“If you put the sand into the jar first,” he continued “there is no room for the pebbles or the rocks. The same goes for your life.
If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff, you will never have room for the things that are important to you. Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness. Play with your children. Take your partner out dancing. There will always be time to go to work, clean the house, give a dinner party and fix the disposal.
Take care of the rocks first – the things that really matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just sand.”
Our thinking pattern
Our behavior can be defined by two different zones in the brain: “thinking” and “reactive” brain. The reactive part is the oldest. It goes back to the times when ancient hunters had to escape the saber-toothed tiger. Nothing has changed until today (not counting the fact that tigers became extinct). The reactive brain triggers “fight-or-flight” mechanism and other automatic reactions that let us survive. It also occupies the larger part of our brain — which helps us understand why it is so powerful . The thinking brain allows us to reflect and take decisions consciously. However, this rational part won’t work properly if we are threatened, stressed or gripped by emotions. It also takes more energy and time than the reactive brain. Literally, it requires effort to think
When we are faced with urgent tasks, our reactive brain steps in. We rush doing them without much thought. The sense of accomplishment makes us feel extremely good. This can evolve to a real “urgency addiction”. What’s bad about this?
Urgent tasks are not necessarily important. We start doing things simply because they seem to be critical. We like feeling busy and energetic, and our brain supports this feeling by producing dopamine. When things calm down it turns out that we have wasted the whole day on trivial matters.
Time management matrix :
In Quadrant 1 (top left) we have important, urgent items – items that need to be dealt with immediately.Example: Family Emergencies, Real, hard deadlines for important projectsIn Quadrant 2 (top right) : we have important, but not urgent items – items that are important but do not require your immediate attention, and need to be planned for. This quadrant is highlighted because Covey emphasizes this is the quadrant that we should focus on for long term achievement of goals. Example: Exercise, your career path, Maintaining relationships with family and friends
In Quadrant 3 (bottom left) : we have urgent, but unimportant items – items which should be minimized or eliminated. These are the time sucks, the “poor planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part” variety of tasks.Example: phone call, email, travel
In Quadrant 4 (bottom right): we have unimportant and also not urgent items – items that don’t have to be done anytime soon, perhaps add little to no value and also should be minimized or eliminated. These are often trivial time wastersExanple: watching tv, movie, playing game on pc , unnecessary waste time in social media etc.
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