Time management is an essential tool for everyone. This was probably always true: After all, time has always been in short supply. But in our high-tech, information-overloaded world of the 21st century it is even more important to each one of us to be able to use the time that we have in the way that is most productive. This does not mean that each one of us should at all times adjust our work to meet the needs of our bosses: Time management should not be a tool to make us into more effective drones for corporate profits. Rather, time management strategies should be used to allow us to accomplish what we need to in each of the domains in our lives (school, work, home) while at the same time balancing each one of those domains (Taylor 41).
This is, of course, easier said than done. In order to understand the ways in which time can be most effectively managed, it may be helpful to look at a particular case study. This paper examines the way in which a daycare provider (who has a daycare center in her own home) balances the demands of the different arenas of her life. (A daycare provider with whom the writer is acquainted was interviewed for this assignment.) While a daycare provider is not the kind of corporate executive who may come to mind when one is considering the kind of person who is most in need of time management, in fact such an individual is probably more in need of a time-management plan than are many better-paid workers.
After having provided care for five infants and toddlers at a time in her home for the past 15 years, this daycare owner said that she has developed a personal time management system based on a few basic rules. These "rules" accord with what experts in the field advise. The first of the time-management rules that this business owner follows is that of "costing" her own time (http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newHTE_01.htm). "This means that I understand the value of my own time and if I can pay s...