Imagine a bank that credits your account with Rs. 86,400 each morning, but has a policy that you have to use all the money on that day itself! It does not carry over a balance from one day to the next. What would you do? You would probably exhaust every single rupee, every single day, before the closing time.
Little do we think about it yet all of us have been given a Time Account. Every day you are credited 86,400 seconds to spend. Do you spend them as wisely as you would have spent the money?
A small child cannot spend money properly due to his immaturity; one without the skill of planning and prioritizing can’t utilize time properly. As discussed earlier, time is the agent of God, and we don’t have control over it. We only have a choice of where are we going to invest the present moment.
Before the present moment arrives, one should be ready with a plan to invest it. Here comes the definition of plan which you may want to note: A plan is nothing but our conscious choice to utilize our time in an effective way.
Studying without specific goals is like driving a car without knowing the destination to reach. You will aimlessly wander with no specific direction. You will start wondering why you started the journey at all. Likewise, a frivolous student will soon lose interest in studies. Not knowing the purpose for which he is studying, he will tend to aimlessly while away time. Thus, goal setting is absolutely essential to remain enthusiastic in studies. Moreover, to achieve those goals we need to translate them into a plan or specific task-list.
Studying without a study-plan is like driving a car blind-folded. Imagine what will happen if you drive with eyes covered? Firstly, you can never reach your destination. Second, you won’t know when to slow down or when to accelerate. Third, you won’t know when to take a left or a right turn. Fourth, and the last, you will surely end up in an accident. A student without a study-plan has to bear similar consequences. That is, firstly, he won’t be able to achieve his goals. Second, he won’t know when to study hard or when to relax. Third, he won’t know how to balance studies, health, social & spiritual life. And of course, finally, he will become hopeless and may hurt himself emotionally or even physically. Probably, that’s why the old saying goes, “One who fails to plan, plans to fail!”
Thus, a student should always schedule his activities and then execute them with discipline. It’s always a good idea to have a study-target for a month and then divide the monthly target into four weekly targets. It will be even better if one makes a list of ‘To-Do’ activities daily. Whatever is unachieved in the day can be pushed on to the next day’s list. If a student makes his ‘To-Do’ list a night before, he will wake up for the day fully prepared to invest his time into the activities planned.