Either you run the day or the day runs you - Jim Rohn

  This is an incredibly famous quote by Jim Rohn, An American entrepreneur, motivational speaker, and author. I love this quote because it signifies the importance of both Goal Setting and Time Management. I often come across parents who feel that why should kids be taught Goal Setting and Time Management. Let them be kids and go with the flow. Let me ask the parents here, how many times we feel that we do not have enough time to accomplish what we have planned. That gym membership, that Spa gift certificate, that coffee date with an old friend, that desire to wake up early and sleep on time... the list goes on. We all know that these are some of the important tasks, but we are not able to fulfill them.

Effective time management strategies ensure that we fit these things into the schedule. There is no right or wrong method to efficiently manage time, however, some level of education on different practices if learned at a young age, goes a long way. It starts becoming a way of life. I am therefore a big advocate of teaching both goal setting and time management techniques to students not only at the Graduate level but also at the school level. Let us look at some of those techniques which we can do with our kids and teach them the importance of goal setting and time management.

Time is Finite

The first and foremost learning for our kids is to engrave the thought in them that their time is finite. When my daughters begin a new school year, I always remind them that they have a finite number of days in that grade level, never in their life would they be a 2nd grader or a Middle Schooler again, and encourage them to make the most of it. We all need to develop a pattern of thinking time as the most important commodity of our lives as with every passing second, we are losing it. It is not the same again. This helps them to make the most of their day and the situation they are in. While we were in Chicago, before relocating to Austin, my daughters and I would take the train to Downtown Chicago every Friday in the summers and explore our city like a tourist. Chicago offers one of the best Downtowns and we made the most of it. The reason I am mentioning this here is because when we moved, we realized that there was not a single street in the downtown that we have not explored. We had made the most of those summer days and today when we have moved out of the city, I can say that we have such beautiful memories of the time spent there. You never know what comes next, make the most of this day that you have. If we master this emotion of thinking that Time is finite, then, rest all becomes easy. Do we use our limited-edition shoes roughly? Automatically we will start valuing it.

Attach a purpose to the Goals

Once we are convinced that time is the most precious commodity, then, we can start thinking of what to do with that time constructively. This is when Goal setting comes into the picture. But I would say that the first and foremost step is to attach the purpose to the goal. We must educate our children as to why are they doing something that they are doing. Why is it important to read for 20 minutes daily, why is it important to read fiction as well as nonfiction books, why is it that we should make our bed after waking up, and why should we strive to always eat healthy food. These are some of the examples of some of the purpose statements. Once we understand the why behind a particular thing then we will find it easier to commit our time to it. After setting the purpose clearly, we can start defining the goals more specifically.

Long, Medium, and Short-term goals

When we clearly write the goals down in terms of our long term, medium term, and short term, we are signaling our brain to start investing time in these priorities. Breaking down a big goal in small parts makes it achievable. We can use this method for any or every type of goal that we want to set. I often tell my students that an educational goal is not the only goal that is required to be achieved. We should also have behavioral, recreational, family, and health goals as well. The idea here is to fill up our 24 hours with things that are important because we are going to live through the day anyways, then, why not live it on our terms doing things that value us.

Keep Goals Measurable

One of the important aspects of allocating time to our goals is that we want to keep them measurable, that way, we can clearly identify whether it was worth spending our time on a particular task or not. A goal that is not quantifiable is a dream and therefore can be vague. We are doing this because we understand that time is finite, and we want to be able to justify the time spent on a particular task with an outcome. For e.g., a person aspiring to be healthy can set up a goal to reduce 1% body fat a month and then start investing his time in workouts. This will ensure that you stay on track and are able to measure the result too.

Eliminate distractions

Once we are clear on the important areas where we need to invest our time, it becomes extremely easy for us to eliminate distractions. It is simple, if some person or task is not helping you achieve your goal then it is a distraction. Do not get me wrong, I do not mean that you should not help anyone who does not align with your goals.  For e.g., your friend calls you to gossip about some other friend and their breakups and takes away 20 minutes of your reading time is a distraction, but, that same friend calling to discuss a book that she just read and tells you the story because she wanted to share it with someone is no distraction. You have, in fact, used those 20 minutes in knowing about a book which you have not yet read. That is a wise use of time.

Learn to Say No

Efficiently setting our goals will ensure that we say NO to tasks and people who do not align with our goals. I am not saying that we must be selfish, but every individual must learn to say NO to less important tasks to make time and space available for important tasks. Remember, Time is finite. Let’s say, for example, you have a goal of giving, you have set aside funds in your budget to ensure that you support causes that are meaningful to you. Now, here is what you will have to decide, you have funds allocated, does that mean you will give to any freeloader who wants it, or you will allocate them wisely to an organization or a person that aligns with your goals. So, it is a great goal to give but Give wisely. Give to people who deserve it and not to the people who just have a habit of taking. But all of this is possible if we have our long-term, medium-term, and short-term goals clearly laid out.

I hope this will help start those meaningful conversations with your kids regarding eliminating distractions and valuing time as an important finite commodity.