Here's a letter from a dad to his teenage kid about effective time management.
'Inch by inch, life's a cinch. Yard by yard, life is hard'
I was reading this morning from the book, "7 Habits of Effective Teens" and it was talking about time management. It read:
"Let's face it. You've got a lot to do and there just isn't enough time. After school you will have your activity (dance), followed by homework, and soon you will have tests coming up regularly in school. You will find it hard to call back a friend. On top of that, you want to get in some exercise, your room is a wreck, and you feel like you're getting overwhelmed. What will you do?"
Know that these circumstances are normal. As you take on more you must also begin to make the use of time to your advantage. Your busy-ness is a tester for things to come in your future. Life gets even busier as you get older. The secret habit?
Learn to put first things first. It's all about learning to prioritize and manage your time so that your first things come first, not last. Putting first things first also deals with learning how to delay the more fun activities (Facebooking for example) until a time when your more pressing things (like studying for a test) are completed.
As you have more school obligations, you must have the will power to use time in a way that you get the "required stuff" out of the way before everything else. You must think about yourself as the driver of your own car and not the passenger. You have to come up with your own map on how to get to the necessary places you must go. The better you manage your time (through self-discipline) the more "together" you will feel and the much better your results will be. This is an important subject. Believe me, your life will seem so much more fun if you are doing well in school.
These are ideas that I got from this book. Right now it is 5:08 AM, on Thursday morning and this is the only time today that I feel I can share this with you. So I can relate with you on how easy it is to feel that you don't have enough time. The secret is to learn each day how to better manage your time (be your own driver) so that you can stay on track a little each day.
I believe in you.
Love, Dad
