Are you working on clock time or 'real' time? Learn how to
manage your day by understanding the difference with these 10 time management
tips.
Chances are good that, at some time in your life, you've
taken a time management class, read about it in books, and tried to use an
electronic or paper-based day planner to organize, prioritize and schedule your
day. "Why, with this knowledge and these gadgets," you may ask,
"do I still feel like I can't get everything done I need to?"
The answer is simple. Everything you ever learned about
managing time is a complete waste of time because it doesn't work.
Before you can even begin to manage time, you must learn
what time is. A dictionary defines time as "the point or period at which
things occur." Put simply, time is when stuff happens.
There are two types of time: clock time and real time. In
clock time, there are 60 seconds in a minute, 60 minutes in an hour, 24 hours
in a day and 365 days in a year. All time passes equally. When someone turns
50, they are exactly 50 years old, no more or no less.
In real time, all time is relative. Time flies or drags
depending on what you're doing. Two hours at the department of motor vehicles
can feel like 12 years. And yet our 12-year-old children seem to have grown up
in only two hours.
Which time describes the world in which you really live,
real time or clock time?
The reason time management gadgets and systems don't work is
that these systems are designed to manage clock time. Clock time is irrelevant.
You don't live in or even have access to clock time. You live in real time, a
world in which all time flies when you are having fun or drags when you are
doing your taxes.
