Do we see time as a resource?

Historical facts on the human race have shown and proven that mankind has always depended on resources in his environment for survival and development.

However, the exigencies of every era determine the kind of resource to explore. Therefore, the value of a resource varies with time; either it dwindles or appreciates.

And one resource which is very crucial in the contemporary globalised and competitive world is time.

 Though time as a resource is available on planet earth to every individual, family, society and nation, only those who see and appreciate its value make the best use of it.    

In life, it is always difficult or impossible to find a misplaced or a lost item, especially when that particular item is in your hand or pocket.

Once a while it happens to all of us; we would be looking for our phone or pen when we are, indeed, holding it or it is in our pocket.

Until it dawns on us that the very item being searched for is in our hand or pocket, we would turn things in our house and office upside down with no positive result.

As a country, we have been earnestly trotting around the globe since the advent of the Fourth Republic, chasing investors to channel their resources to Ghana, forgetting that these foreign investors could not have made it by ignoring a major resource which is in abundance everywhere in the world.

 This resource is time.

There is no country in this world which has developed without placing premium on time.

The whole world has 24 hours in a day, but what fraction or portion of a day do we use productively?

 Do we have the same level of attitude towards time as the Europeans, Americans or the Asian tigers such as the Japanese, South Koreans, Singaporeans, etc. do?  

Until we begin to perceive time as a resource, no amount of investment can resolve our socio-economic challenges. Almost all of us attend events late without thinking that a key resource - time - is being wasted.

Most people attending state functions or social gatherings prefer to be the last to appear to portray the false belief that dignitaries must be the last people to appear at a function.

At all social gatherings, most leaders fail to exhibit good example of time management.

 Guest speakers, board chairmen and heads of institutions want to be the last persons to take their seats.

Even in some churches, the pastors only wait when praises, prayers and offering are over before they appear to mount the pulpit.

 These people forget that leadership by example is key if they want to influence positively the people they claim to lead.

Abysmal attitude towards time has affected almost every aspect of our national life, such that most of the programmes on local television channels and radio stations do not even start at the exact advertised time.

For instance, if a programme is advertised to start at 8.00pm just after news broadcast, instead of ending the news broadcast at 7.55pm for example and using the five minutes gap to play unrelated adverts to the next programme, the news would end at 8.00pm, followed by adverts.

When this happens, obviously, the next programme cannot start at the exact advertised time of 8pm.
Those who watch BBC, CNN, Aljazeera SABC, Bloomberg, etc., will appreciate what I am saying.
   
There has not been a better time for us to see time as a type of resource within our control.
 
We either use it or lose it forever, as time lost cannot be recovered.

In effect, we need no one to drum into our ears that a change of attitude towards effective time management is fundamental to our quest to develop as a country.

The writer is the Greater Regional Director for the Electoral Commission (EC).
Writer’s telephone: 0208170403
Email: [email protected]