Time Management in Public Speaking

Posted by carolinecarol on October 19th, 2017

I'm late, I'm late, for a very important date. No time to say "hello", "goodbye", I'm late, I'm late, I'm late! Have you ever felt like the White Rabbit in Alice in Wonderland? Rushing from one thing to the next with no time to rest or relax? If so, perhaps what you need is some time management. The problem is, you can't really manage "time". You can't take a few hours from the morning and put them in the evening, or take a few extra hours from the middle of the day and put them into the night. There are the same number of hours in the day for everyone, and the follow exactly the same pattern every day.

Each day you have 24 hours to utilize. This breaks down into 1440 minutes or 86,400 seconds. Each person gets the same amount. Nitrovits You can't save them like vacation days. When they are over, the time is gone. Whether you spent your time wisely or foolishly, it doesn't matter, you can't get it back. So, if you can't manage "time", what can you manage? You can manage yourself and how you spend your day by setting priorities for what you want to accomplish and then scheduling the activities into a day planner, a calendar, or just a "to do" list. Have you ever seen someone who seems to be able to accomplish 25 different things while you have difficulty completing 4 or 5? That person has learned the secret of priority management - how to make good use of their time.

They may spend their Sundays preparing meals for the week so that they can have time for other activities during the week. They may give up television in order to take courses. They may make their children's activities a priority, but take knitting or reading with them for the "down" times at the rink, i.e. practices, dressing and undressing time. They may keep magazines or books with them to catch up on reading while waiting in the doctor's offices or for other appointments. They may listen to tapes in their car while driving, either to learn something new, or to keep their mind on something while they drive so they won't speed.