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Leaving time for fun is essential to stay refreshed.

Having Time: More Responsibility than Luxury!

Rakibul Hasan
Photos: Kazi Tahsin Agaz Apurbo

Time and tide wait for none. This age old expression might sound like a cliché but it is indeed true that till date nobody could invent a device that can hold time. And, time is precious. From eating and sleeping to study and work, we need time for everything. So if one wants to be successful in life, the person needs to manage time effectively. However, for a student living in Dhaka who has to spend the major part of the day being stuck in hour long traffic jams on the way to the university and back home, the concept of time management may seem rather elusive. The problem is that in this era of globalisation, every student has to compete globally and a slight delay to achieve a certain skill can cost a candidate dearly in both academic and professional levels. So the only way to resolve this dilemma is to spend your time intelligently. All that we have is 24 hours a day but if we can manage this time efficiently, we can get done with all our works by the end of the day.

Waking up early in the morning can provide one with additional time.

	Gridlock on the streets--a major constrain to any time management plan

For starters, try to wake up early in the morning. Benjamin Franklin once wrote an entire book called 'Early Rising, A Natural, Social and Religious Duty' where he stated his famous quote, “Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise.” No wonder that his habit of starting his day early made him a famous diplomat, inventor and statesman all over the world! You can do wonders with the extra time you will gain by waking up earlier in the morning. Apart from its usual health benefits such as time for having a morning walk and breathing in fresh morning air, waking up early can provide students with additional time to study or work on their lessons. The peaceful environment in early morning lets students concentrate fully, on their studies. By starting early for their universities, students can avoid irritating traffic jams on streets since early mornings are usually free from the hustle and bustle of the city. However, sometimes one can't help getting stuck in gridlocks as many have classes later on the day or live too far away from the university. Ashfaque Hossain, a student of Dhaka University (DU) says, “I live in Uttara, so I have to commute between Uttara and my university campus in Shahbagh regularly. Most of my classes start at 12 pm but even if I start from Uttara as early as 8 am, sometimes it takes me more than 3 hours to make it to the University. The dreadful experience of being stuck in gridlocks hopelessly for hours in a crammed bus just spoils the start of my day!” Nevertheless, one can make good use of these long hours of gridlock by reading books or going through the day's newspaper. Thanks to technology, nowadays, one can read books or flip through a newspaper with different applications available on mobile phones. No matter what the situation is, a good read can always be a great way to spend some quality time.

A good read can help get over the boredom of hour long traffic jams.

Watching TV and exercising at the same time can keep one fit and entertained!

Sometimes multitasking can be a great way to make the best use of your time. After a long day of classes and exams, all that most of the students want to do is just to laze around in front of the television. As a result, the number of overweight couch potatoes is increasing in an alarming rate. What if you could watch TV and workout at the same time? Do some weight training with light dumbbells or some sort of free hand exercise and you can stay fit and entertained at the same time.

For just about any student, semester breaks or vacations are times when big plans fall into place. However, it is not uncommon for many students to start feeling bored within a few days of long holidays due to the absence of liveliness of life on campus! Why not use the time to contribute to the society? There are many voluntary organisations that help young people to set their ideas into action. Mushfiqur Rahman, a student of American International University- Bangladesh and an advisor of 1 Degree Initiative (1di) says, “In 1di, we introduce different educational and environmental projects where students can join and work for the betterment of society. Plus, we also organise workshops on different skills such as presentation skills, first aid treatment, bicycling and so on.” Doing some kind of voluntary work during holidays can be a great start for any student's career.

Students can join different skill development workshops during holidays.

Being the younger folks of the society, students are usually free from certain responsibilities such as earning for the family or taking care of a child and so on! Thus, it won't be wrong to presume that most of them have considerable amount of time to spare. However, job or no job, everyone needs money. Freelancing for online outsourcing can be good way for the students to earn their pocket money! Ali Asgar, a famous Bangladeshi freelancer who has pioneered online outsourcing in Bangladesh, says, “Given that the first priority of the students should be their studies, students should go for outsourcing projects that demands little time. There are many freelancing websites where students can sign up and bid for projects such as writing contents or designing a logo. Besides, earning money, these projects would also help students develop their language skills.”

A certain agony that a great number of students have to go through is procrastinating and stressing about meeting the deadlines of their class assignments. Thus, they rush by pulling an all-nighter in front of their computer screen at the last moment. As a result, many of them end up with poor grades. To avoid such miseries, plan your assignments ahead of deadlines when you would still have enough time to finish them. Instead of finishing the whole assignment in one sitting, allocate a certain time of the day when you can solely concentrate on the project and go through the required information. This way, one can finish his or her assignment well before the deadline and it will be more informative and well-written for sure.

Leaving time for fun is essential to stay refreshed.

It is always important to leave time for fun. There should be times, when we should let ourselves let loose and laugh our hearts out. Even if it is the night before exam or the deadline for a class assignment, occasional breaks are essential to refresh one's body and mind. It's also very important to get enough sleep. A good night's sleep lets you stay healthy and your brain functions at its best!

	Keeping a log helps one to organise tasks.

Having problems with so many things to do? Keeping a log about your daily tasks can help one a lot to get things done on time. Take some time before starting your day to make a list of the tasks that you want to accomplish and reassess the list before going to sleep. This way, work that needs to be done as first priority can be organised. Keeping a log of tasks also helps us to keep track of our successes.

New Year has just begun. It's the time when people start losing motivation to stick on to their new year resolutions. However, if you manage to spend your time wisely, be certain to fulfil all your resolutions on time. Make every second count and you will get to lead a better life for sure.