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Teaching > HP
442 Professional Practices > Time
Management >
A Final Perspective on Time and Choice
Source:
Michael Olpin, Associate Professor, Health Promotion & Human
Performance, Weber State University, Ogden, UT
In the final analysis, we always
do what we want to do. There are no exceptions
to this.
How you spend your time, what events you participate in every
moment of each day, is your choice. You
may not always enjoy the choices you made, but you always choose
to do what you do, and there are consequences for everything that
you do. These consequences may be favorable or
unfavorable, pleasant or unpleasant.
We commonly hear people say, “I have to do this,”
or “I have to be at a certain place at a certain time.”
The reality is that we never have
to do anything. There is rarely a gun being held
to anyone's head requiring them to select certain choices. We
always have a choice about how we spend our time.
You say that you have to be in a class at a specific time, or
you must be at work during a specific time period. There is no
life requirement saying you have to be there. There are consequences
for not showing up to work; you may not continue to work there
very much longer if you choose to be late or not show up at all.
Nevertheless, what we do with the 24 hours of our day or 168 hours
of our week is entirely up to us. Deciding beforehand what to
do and living flexibly as we do them can make those 24 hours much
more pleasurable.
Conclusion
In this chapter you learned three time management systems. As
you probably noticed, they have similarities and differences.
All are designed to help you gain more control of your life and
thereby, reduce your stress levels.
As you experiment with these systems, determine which has the
most appeal to you and your current circumstances.
You have also learned tips for overcoming procrastination and
eliminating time zappers.
Don’t mistake activity for
achievement. Reduce your stress by focusing your
actions on the things that matter.
In the end, time management is
really more about managing yourself and your life than it is about
managing time.
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