When I entered school newly many years back, I had a mental idea of how I would want my study life to look like. I even drafted a plan of how to read and study my books daily. I was keeping to it. However, I discovered that there was this particular classmate that, if he comes around, we would just be gisting, or watching movies, or even going to see a football match. Before I knew it, hours will pass without being productive. When I discovered this and how I was wasting time, I had to cut off from him. When I did, I started being serious with my academics. I understood that the usage of time is what will determine the outcome of one's life. You need to protect your time like your future depends on it, because it actually does.
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Time is one of the most valuable assets and resources that you have, yet a lot of people waste their time on what does not add value to them. Unlike some other physical assets like money, land, etc, you cannot earn more of time; it is still the same 24 hours in a day. More so, if a particular time had passed, it is gone, and you may not be able to get it back again. This is why you have to learn how to protect your time. Because the truth is that your future is heavily dependent on what you do with your time in the present. When you manage your time well, your future will thank you.
Whatever you want to achieve in this life will require time. For example; if you want to learn a skill, build a career, improve your life, etc, you have to understand that none of them will happen instantly, they will definitely require time. These are all products of how you spend your time daily. If you spend the major part of your daily time on distraction, unnecessary activities, or on things that do not add any form of value to you, it will slow down your progress or even completely stop you. But if you spend your time wisely, intentionally, consciously, and consistently, your future will begin to take shape even in the present.
One of the biggest challenges of this age is distractions. You may see someone pick up their phone to read a soft copy of their textbook. Then they will see a pop-up notification from a social media platform. They will decide to enter the platform to see what it is. From there, they will spend hours on social media, following trends, liking posts, etc, without even realising that they are wasting a lot of productive time. What feels like "just a few moments" will turn into wasted hours, days, or even weeks. The danger in this is not just about the lost time, but also about lost opportunities that may have transformed the person's life permanently.
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To protect your time, you have to start by awareness. You have to currently know how you spend your day and your time. Take a reflection about the activities that move you forward, so that you can consolidate on them. Then consider also activities that do not move you forward so that you will stop them. It is when you identify these things that you will make better decisions that will shape your future. It is not everything that demands your attention. It may not be because they are bad, but they may just not be necessary for you at that point.
You should also learn how to set your priorities aright. You may have a couple of things to do, but you may not be to do everything at once. You have to select in what order they will be done, if they will be done at all. Not everything should get your attention. The truth is that if you treat everything as important, you may end up not achieving anything significant. This is why you need to focus on what truly matters to you and to your goals. Also learn how to say "no" to the things that do not align or follow your plan and goal for life. When you learn to focus on what truly matters, you will protect your time and manage it appropriately.
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