Time Management Essay

Time Management
Technology today is remarkable. We have gizmos and gadgets that weren’t even dreamed of half a century ago. There are cell phones and PDAs that are more powerful than many home computers. New cars now come with built in navigation systems and some can nearly drive themselves. We have wireless internet access available in nearly every corner of globe. All these things were designed with the goal of simplifying our lives so we would have more time on our hands. So why is it then, that the more advanced we become the less time we seem to have to do the things we need to do? Where is all that extra time going? Eric Mancini, (2007) an author on time management noted, “We can be far more productive than perhaps any other generation in history. And we have the tools that can help us manage our time. All it takes is to be open to change.”   (p. 2). Unfortunately for many of us I think we are failing to use those tools. Instead, the pace of life has increased so much that we allow ourselves to bounce from one event to the next, just reacting to whatever is thrown at us. We’ve lost the ability to pace ourselves and the ability to manage our time effectively.
Good time management skills are an especially important part of collegiate success. Since “Time is finite” (Mancini, 2007, p. 2) it stands to reason that students with better time management skills will perform better and earn better grades than those who manage their time poorly. In a study on the effects of different time management practices on college grades, Britton and Tesser (1991) found that students who practiced certain time management techniques averaged a GPA nearly four tenths higher than students who did not. They also suggested two interesting facts. First, that strong time management skills will translate to success outside of the college environment. Second, that time management skills can be learned.
Also relevant to this discussion is the fact that in recent years, the number of...