“Time is money” – these words are often bandied about, but very few people realize their true essence, and it is only those select few who get to the top. How often do you find yourself in a situation a night before the vital exam, or a couple of days before the big presentation when you reverently wish that you had more time? Most of the youth of today spoils their future by concentrating on work on the last few days. Though you may be able to get through your entire syllabus, if you are gifted with exceptional powers of memory and concentration in the last few days only, as the study and workload gets heavier, so do the demands on the student, and more often than not, the last day is never enough. How often have you wished that you had just one more day, and you’d have aced the paper, or floored the presentation committee? But facts are facts. The clock ticks ceaselessly, and will not have any mercy on you.

In the intensely competitive world of today, you must keep in mind that:“If you fail to plan, then you plan to fail”

Time management and communication skills are the 2 biggest contributors towards your success or failure. Sound management of time, coupled with proper planning, ensure efficiency in execution, and put you on the path to glory. The importance of time management can hardly be exaggerated. It is the be-all and end-all.

For the uninitiated, Time management refers to a range of skills, tools, and techniques used to manage time when accomplishing specific tasks, projects and goals. This set encompasses a wide scope of activities, and these include planning, allocating, setting goals, delegation, analysis of time spent, monitoring, organizing, scheduling, and prioritizing.

Time management strategies are often associated with the recommendation to set goals. These goals are recorded and may be broken down into a project, an action plan, or a simple task list. For individual tasks or for goals, an importance rating may be established, deadlines may be set, and priorities assigned. This process results in a plan with a task list or a schedule or calendar of activities. I may recommend a daily, weekly, monthly or other planning periods, usually fixed, but sometimes variable. Different planning periods may be associated with different scope of planning or review. Authors may or may not emphasize reviews of performance against plan. Routine and recurring tasks may or may not be integrated into the time management plan and, if integrated, the integration can be accomplished in various ways.

One of the best ways to ensure you manage your time to the best of your capabilities is to make a daily schedule, and to stick to the schedule. I know that this is easier said than done, but you must bear in mind that the people who are at the top, got to the top by working immensely hard, and not by daydreaming about their goals.

It is my advice that you should set a target for yourself (goal), be passionate and work hard to achieve it