HEALTH & FITNESS

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Time waits for no one. Time is important and you must utilise it to the fullest. What would be the best way to win the race against time?

Start with your habits. Make a list and examine your daily activities. Find out which of these eat the most of your time and lead to lowest productivity. Look at these:

1. Too much TV time is the number one time stealer. TV time eats up time that should be spent on sleeping and recharging.

Being hooked on movies or TV shows that keep you awake until late at night and early morning can take a heavy toll on your health. Sleeping with the TV on deprives you of a restful, continuous and peaceful sleep. More often than not, these programmes can wake you up in the middle of sleep, making it difficult to doze again.

2. Nightly parties are also time stealers. Socialising can be fun and rewarding, especially if you're aiming to establish a wider network of friends. There is nothing wrong with going out with friends.

But doing this every night can really be a waste of time. Hang-overs result from too much liquor the night before. As a result, you cannot work productively the morning after. You become irritable due to lack of sleep. An irritable businessperson must keep watch of his/her temper, for clients might take their businesses elsewhere.

3. Accepting responsibilities that are more than you can handle will definitely affect your schedules. Learn to say, “no” courteously. Limit your activities to those that produce more results. Pacing your assignments will help to keep stress to a minimum.

Be on the look-out for “time stealers,” those crafty people who will try to pass on their responsibilities to you. Leave time for yourself. Don’t give them all away.

Other time stealers are officemates who spend too much time chatting over the phone, those who use too much of their time discussing personal lives. This sort of thing can rob you of the concentration needed to be able to accomplish your assigned tasks.

4. Giving way for the convenience of others is a sure way to waste time. Imagine this scenario: You have been waiting in line. A good friend arrives and sees the long line. He approaches and asks you to give way, for he will be late in another appointment. Will you give way?

Sacrificing your time for those in need of help is virtuous. However, sacrificing your time for those who want to put one over you is a no-no.

5. Lack of discipline will lead to mismanagement of time. Say, you are having a drink with friends and you have set your time limit. Upon reaching the time limit, you realise that you are having a great time that you allow yourself a little extension of another half-hour. After one extension, you again allow yourself another half-hour extension.

This kind of scenario becomes habitual and can eat up much of your time. Be definite with your time so that you can utilise it gainfully.

These are just a few of the common time stealers. Be conscious of these habits that can definitely wreck havoc on your schedules. Keep in mind that time is important and you must muster every effort to utilise it to the fullest.

Abbas Abedi

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