March 30, 2011

"USE YOUR TIME WISELY!"

How much of your precious time do you waste by staring off into space or by thinking about things which are no longer important? As I am substituting this morning, and my student is working well independently on a History project, I found myself bored and staring at the clock wishing that the class period would soon end. Then it dawned on me that I could use this valuable time to write my blog. I could write it on a piece of paper and transfer it onto my computer later after I got home from work (which is what I am doing right now). Plus, I need to write down my thoughts as soon as they strike me; otherwise, I may not remember them by the end of the day.

As I watch these students who are supposed to be using their time to complete an assignment, I learn that these seventh graders are wasting quite a bit of valuable time by talking, socializing, or doing nothing at all but sitting there, and the teacher is allowing this to happen. It makes me wonder how many of these students will hand in uncompleted work at the end of the class period whenever they had nearly the entire class period to get everything completed.

This event brings the following question to my mind: At what age do people learn to waste their valuable time? It cannot be whenever they are children before the age of five, because I owned and operated my own daycare center for 10 years and never once did I see a bored child between the ages of one and five. Children of this age spend each of their waking minutes jumping from one play toy to the next. Each of their precious minutes of each day is filled with fun and excitement whether they are playing with matchbox cars, dolls, a kitchen set, play clothes, no matter what they play with they are constantly busy and never bored.

When do we lose that excitement of life that we once held when we were young children? People get stuck in a rut, and they wish their days away. Have you ever caught yourself saying, "Oh, I can't wait till it's Friday" or "I can't wait till it's the weekend." What you are doing is wasting the precious, valuable time you have right now wishing for a different time frame. Use you time wisely! Use your time to enjoy the present moment! If you find yourself sitting staring into space or reliving what happened yesterday in your head over and over again, ask yourself, "What can I be doing right now in order to be using my time in a more efficient manner!"