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2 I The Best Online Education System in the world
CAN YOU SPARE THE TIME?
Kathlyn Q. Barrozo
Class of 1991, University of Santo Tomas
B.S. Medical Technology
Time is often something we always have but do not exactly know how to use. How many times have we heard
the often-used excuse, “I just don’t have the time.” ? This writer is not immune to the annoying time trap,
composed mainly of procrastinating and trying to get things moving at the eleventh hour. We don’t act like
there’s no tomorrow; goodness knows we only do that when we’re really pushed for time. What we think
about is the number of tomorrows we still have before getting up and actually doing what we have to do.
Funny, but the whole system, although undoubtedly stressful and hypertension-inducing, often gives us a
greater sense of accomplishment. That flawed perspective only stems from the fact that we need to do a
greater number of things at a more limited time, which in reality, wouldn’t have been so stressful had we
managed our time better. Oh, the perils of having deadlines!
Anyway, the more gifted of us on the time management scale are a breed apart from the rest, I believe. They
get on with everything without delay, stopping only when they’ve reached certain milestones along the way. By
so doing, they are able to live life in a more complicated manner, having their schedules set out beforehand. On
the other hand, those (we) who are not as successful at time management also live their (our) lives leisurely,
taking things in stride. And then, come crunch time, they (we) jump to the task at hand, punishing themselves
(ourselves) to the core trying to make the most of what little time they (we) have. Time ceases to be an ally
altogether. It becomes one’s greatest enemy and worst taskmaster.
The mystery to all these is the propensity we have of subjecting ourselves to the same thing over and over
again. We never learn. I, for one, have always found that the extra 5 minutes in bed early in the morning can
easily stretch to 30 at the most. And then, I scramble out of bed like a total idiot wondering how I could wake
up so late when my alarm clock’s been set to 5 minutes before the hour. Utter stupidity, I tell you. There was
this one time when I decided to have a back-up alarm to my cellular phone alarm: I got myself an alarm clock.
But I only ended up shutting off both alarms when they went off, and then going like mad (again!) doing
multiple things at the same time before breakfast. Crazy, I tell you.
Well, so much for idle chitchat now, chum. I still have that deadline staring me in the face, and it’s for tomorrow.
I just don’t have the time, you see.
QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION:
1.
Are you the type who plans ahead or just goes with the flow? Are you effective that way? Why or why
not?
2.
Why does the writer use first person pronouns enclosed in parentheses in the second paragraph starting
with sentence 4?
3.
Why do people tend to procrastinate?
4.
Why does time become “one’s greatest enemy”?
5.
How can we manage time effectively?