Time as a resource by B L RAZDAN JK Latest News
Time as a resource
Yesterday’s time is gone forever and will never come back.
Time is, therefore always in exceedingly short supply
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Time as a resource |
By B L RAZDAN
Time and tide wait for none.
This old adage prompted the
celebrated English essayist,
Charles Lamb, to remark,
“Nothing puzzles me more
than time and space; and yet noth-
ing troubles me less, as I never
think about them.” Towards his
ripe old age and while writing The
Last Essays of Elia, he remarked
thus: “I begin to count the probabil-
ities of my duration, and to grudge
at the expenditure of moments and
shortest periods, like miser’s far-
things. In proportion as the years
both lessen and shorten, I set more
count upon their periods, and
would fain lay my ineffectual fi nger
upon the spoke of the great wheel. I
am not content to pass away “like a
weaver’s shuttle.”
Everything requires time. It
is the only truly universal condi-
tion.
Time as a resource
All work takes place in time
and uses up time. It is a unique
resource. One cannot rent, hire,
buy, or otherwise obtain more
time. The supply of time is totally
inelastic. No matter how high the
demand, the supply will not go
up. There is no price for it and no
marginal utility curve for it. What
is worse is that time is totally
perishable and cannot be stored.
Yesterday’s time is gone forever
and will never come back. Time
is, therefore always in exceedingly
short supply.
Time as a resource
Time is totally irreplaceable.
Within limits we can substitute
one resource for another, copper
for aluminum, for instance. We
can substitute capital for human
labor. We can use more knowledge
or more brawn. But there is no
substitute for time.
While we all know that time is
precious, yet most of us waste it
the most. While getting old most
people reflect and realize how
better their life could have been
if only they had used the time
available with them productively.
Evidently, to get all there is out of
living, we must employ our time
wisely. Unfortunately, “Man is ill-
equipped to manage his time”, as
remarked by Peter Drucker, the
celebrated American management
guru and author of the famous
MBO doctrine, short form of Man-
agement by Objectives.
I, however, don’t want to get
too dark or depressing, but, yes,
I have been thinking a lot about
this recently.
Time as a resource
All the same, it
is important to realize that our
life is short and that our time on
this earth is limited and only get-
ting more so with every passing
minute. For those who have come
to regard time as a resource that
is “a source or supply from which
benefi t is produced” and that it’s
just one that one cannot change in
quantity, although one can change
how it is allocated and that one can
also change how it is used, one can
be assured that, “Time stays long
enough for anyone who will use
it.” (apologies Leonardo Da Vinci).
Time as a resource
Civil Services aspirants, in par-
ticular, and more so during the
preparatory stages can ill afford
to take this unique irreplaceable
and necessary resource for grant-
ed. Even in management, noth-
ing else, perhaps distinguishes
effective executives as much as
their tender loving care of time.
They only need to keep in mind
the advice of John F. Kennedy in
his oft-quoted witticisms like, “We
must use time as a tool, not as a
crutch.” and, “Time is at once the
most valuable and the most perish-
able of all our possessions.”
Between the two God-given gifts
– intelligence and fl air for hard-
work – I would prefer the latter for
the simple reason that a host of us
have simply wasted intelligence
by sitting over this precious virtue
and doing nothing. On the other
hand, persons given to working
hard at least achieve something
even with lesser intelligence. Even
if one may have thought up of a
great idea but didn’t do anything
about it, it is as good or as bad as
nothing. Procrastination or dilly-
dallying or sitting over time is a
bane that one should avoid at all
costs. It’s not the things we do all
through the day that create the
time crunch but the way we handle
them.
Time as a resource
Our behaviour patterns and
attitudes towards certain tasks
developed over time cause the
backlog! Taking a look at all the
things we need in our life as well
as all the things that need to get
done, makes doing things and life
easier. Remarked Eva Young, “To
think too long about doing a thing
often becomes its undoing.’
It would be worthwhile to
identify the basic causes that con-
tribute to procrastination. If left
unchecked, these leas to a project
(like the CIVIL Services Prepara-
tions) that we have dreamed of,
not be completed. These are tenta-
tively given below with a probable
solution as well:
* We don’t know where to start.
~ Making sure the preparations
get priority at the beginning
helps with planning as well as
ensures its viability!
* We don’t know where we are
going. ~ Getting expert advice
reduces anxiety and time!
* We may feel overwhelmed. ~
Planning out the projects and
time-line will ensure balance!
* We may strive for perfection. ~
Perfection is selfi sh. We should
strive for excellence because we
are faced with a tough task like
the most competitive examina-
tion in the world!
Keeping things simple is the
*key* to good time management.
We fi rst need to identify trouble
spots, then implement time saving
techniques we know we shall stick
to. Shaving minutes off daily tasks
could mean hours by the end of the
week and it is time we can use on
preparing more rigorously. Need-
less to say that .prioritizing what
needs to be done is the fi rst step to
getting organized and making sure
you’ll be there on time with the
right stuff So, choose the time now
to save time and follow Confucius
advice, “Study without refl ection
is a waste of time; refl ection with-
out study is dangerous”
*Bhushan Lal Razdan, formerly of
the Indian Revenue Service, retired
as Director General of Income Tax
(Investigation), Chandigarh.
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