Article July 1, 2002 Issue

New light on time management

By Elaine Follis

STUDENTS, LIKE THE ONES AT THE COLLEGE where I teach, are always trying to balance all the demands on their time. But they aren't the only ones talking about time management these days. Business and professional people, parents, young people in high school and even junior high, face the same combination of many responsibilities and limited time. No matter how carefully one tries to manage it, time just keeps passing, vanishing before our eyes.

But what, exactly, is time? In today's society, it is more than the ticks of a clock. Many people regard time as a scarce and valuable commodity, and so they seek to manage it by allotting it carefully and preserving as much of it as possible. But that approach doesn't guarantee that there will be enough time to do everything that is calling for attention.

Science and Health defines time as "Mortal measurements; limits, in which are summed up all human acts, thoughts, beliefs, opinions, knowledge; matter; error; that which begins before, and continues after, what is termed death, until the mortal disappears and spiritual perfection appears" (p. 595). If time is a "mortal measurement," one should manage it, not so much by valuing and budgeting it, but by challenging its authority to dictate how we should live and what we can do. This approach really is practical, and you'll feel a lot less tension in your life if you do it. Here's why you can expect it to work.