Life Management vs Time Management

“My great concern is not whether you have failed, but whether you are content with your failure.”
Abraham Lincoln

Do you want to keep on getting what you are getting? If so then just keep on doing what you are
doing. Else break out your box.

Sadly, 97% of the 6 billion people on planet earth just ask their brain to do what it did yesterday, the
day before yesterday and the week before that. For them the future or year ahead is but a repeat of
the old past. A future without hope. A future to waste.

However, there is the 3% who see the future as an opportunity for new and exciting adventures of
discovery, risk taking, achievement and significance. It is that 3% that makes the world go around.
These are the job creators -not job consumers. They are men and women of action with strong faith
that enables them to conquer fear of failure. These are individuals we read about and celebrate, the
so called overnight success stories, history movers. I have no doubt that if you are not already, you
will soon become part of that statistic.

How do you become significant?

When I read “Over the Top” by Zig Ziglar- I noticed a very important statement on its cover “Moving
from survival to stability, from stability to success, from success to significance”

It strikes that everyone is pursuing success, there is a yearning to be significant. The purpose of our
being is to be significant, to make a positive difference in the lives of others [We teachers].We MAD-
make a difference not only to the current generation but those who will follow. The only way we can
hope to be significant is to know our purpose and pursue it with passion and perseverance.

The 4 elements to being significant are : [1] Know your purpose

[2] Have a clear plan for your life

[3] Manage time effectively

[4] Enjoy life’s journey

Each one of us has a unique fingerprint or DNA- a unique purpose that only we can fulfil.

Successful people do what failures are unwilling to do.[study, revise, do corrections]

Establish your position

Every journey has a beginning and an end. Both the start and the finish are essential. The only thing
without a beginning and an end is a circle. Such is the place where people find themselves in when
they refuse to prepare a plan for their lives. Unfortunately 97% of the people are trapped in this
way-just doing what everyone else is doing, never for a moment stopping to ask the
questions-“Where am I and where am I going?”

Where am I?

Is the first question a person regaining consciousness will ask.

Let us have a dream

What is the biggest nation in the world? America, China, UK, Japan, Zimbabwe?
I believe in Zig Ziglar’s answer-“imagi-nation” to be the correct one. Imagination is certainly the one
thing that everyone has but fails to use. We are all born with the ability to imagine. This can be
witnessed everyday in kids. They can play for hours with imaginary friends, they visualise themselves
as pilots, cops, nurses, doctors, princes and princesses-that’s a key that unlocks your destination.

I often come across people whom when asked what their dreams are, say “I have it all up here in my
head, don’t you worry, I know just what I want.” This approach sends the message that “My dreams
are small, I don’t even need to write them down, I have so few anyway.” If you have big dreams
write them down. Have you noticed that when you go shopping, how much time, effort and money
you save when you take a shopping list with you as opposed to going without one? If you have no
shopping list [dream list in life] it is going to cost you dearly . What I enjoy most in life is that it is a
case of Pick ‘n’ Pay. You can pick whatever you want and provided you are able to pay the price then
you can have the products.

Life needs direction.

Direction is more important than speed.

A fortune is an idea acted upon. The key word is act. Many people have taken their dreams, their
plans to the grave with them. Graveyards are probably the wealthiest places on planet earth. Taking
action is like jogging, a little each day is all that is required. A man once complained that he had a
problem with his mother-in-law and asked for help. His friend suggested that he tells her to go for a
10km walk each morning. Confused, how can this be a solution-after a week his mother could be 70
km away. A little each day will take you somewhere.