Starting On Time: The Blessedness Of Early Beginnings
Over the years, I have understood something in life - success can be greatly influenced by timing. The blessedness of beginning early applies to all the aspects of life - jobs, education, career, etc. When you start early, then you already stand the chance of finishing early. But much more than that, you have to also know that being disciplined with time is a major requirement for growth, achievement, and success. There are things that you naturally achieve simply because you were on time or you started early. You may have heard this phrase; "the early bird picks the biggest worm." This just explains the benefits of starting on time.
When you start early, it gives you a head start. More so, it prevents you from having to rush everything at last minute. I remember when I was doing my internship during my undergraduate period, something played out, which explained the need to take timely action. When we started the internship, we were given a report book, which was to be filled at the end of each week. It should contain the activities performed for the week, which would be submitted at the end of the internship programme, which was about 6 months. A lot of the interns thought that, since they still have time, they will fill the report at their convenience.
What they forgot to realise was that, as they were deferring to fill the report, if was accumulating. After about 3 months into the internship programme, we got a news that the external supervisors would be coming for inspection by the end of the week, and they would like to see our reports. The day we got the news was on Wednesday, so we had just two days to tidy our reports. Well, I was not bothered because my report was up to date. But I discovered that some of the interns had not even open their report book, talk more of filling it. Imagine using just two days to fill what you have done for 3 months. They had to keep awake for almost straight two days, because they did not utilise their time well. While we that started on time did not have to go through the last minute rush. When you start a task early, it helps to prevent being choked up by time.
In addition to this, I have also noticed that there is a special kind of grace that normally follows doing things at the right time and timely. If you have been to this part of the world, you will observe that almost all seasoning cubes are called "Maggi," almost all noodles are called "Indomie," almost all detergents are called "Omo," the list still continues. They are enjoying free publicity and they took over the market because they arrived before others. When you arrive early than the rest, then you have already taken the lead in a lot of things. Your service may not even be the best, and there may be others better than it, but when you use time to your advantage, you will command an unimaginable patronage. Most times people even value availability in place of capability.
You tend to master time and use it to your advantage when you start on time. For example; as a student, when you start the first day to study your books and prepare for your exams, you will tend to grab more knowledge than when you just sit and wait until the exam timetable is out. Just to let you know; time has a fundamental input towards success. Many of the people that have succeeded in their fields of endeavours and in life generally, did not have more special privileges than you, neither were they gifted the successes, rather they figured out how to take advantage of their time. Time is one of your greatest allies if you know how to use it.
One of the enemies of success is procrastination. If you will be able to beat procrastination, then you have already positioned yourself on the pathway of success. The habit of delaying a task that you should have done is what breeds stress, mental strain, last minute rush, and produces results that are not up to par. In order to put an end to procrastination and maximise your time, you have to learn to attach a sense of urgency to every task that you have to do. Also, have a dream or something that will prompt you to take actions, then take actions in line with the dream. Even if the dream is too big that you cannot take it all at once, then you can break it down into pieces that you can manage and then take them one after the other. Always have in mind that it is what you do with the gift of time that will become your gift back to nature and to time.
Thanks for reading
