Recently I bursted into a young man watching African Magic Movies late in the night on my way to the study room to pick a book.Then again, I found another young boy early on Sunday morning watching TV.
I said to each of them at different times that NO ONE BECOMES GREAT BY SITTING DOWN WITH TELEVISION & WATCHING MOVIES AT WRONG TIMES...READ A BOOK..PRAY, MEDITATE AND PLAN YOUR LIFE.
I needed to speak harshly to them for it to sink in with hope they will learn and change their priorities.
It is important to note that the World is in serious trouble as a result of Social Media and Television programmes which has become addictions to many including young and old, male and female and in fact worst case is that students who ought to be reading spend time on all these stuffs and then you can see the effects on their result.
Anyone who want to be productive during the day must understands that YOU CANNOT SPEND YOUR NIGHT Watching Movies, Using the Telephone and Chatting and expect that you will have proper mental capacity to be productive during the day.
The bible says those who sleep do sleep at night. ( 1 Thesalonians 5 verse 17).
If you refuse to sleep at night and watch movies and chat with people who are also like you; you are actually tearing your next day into pieces.
If there is no sleep for whatever reason; the best way to use our time is to either find a good book to read, take time to meditate or pray and engage God in discussions in quiet manner that you will be able to hear God.
Recently, I heard about NETFLIX during the lockdown and an attempt to watch a movie series because of my nature not to do anything half way made me to stay awake till 4am and alas, that destroyed my next day activities as I was dozing off during the day.I spoke to a friend about it who told me; next time stop when you end a series.
Now; no such distractions can take my time to rest any more.
Day time is for productive activities and not for sleep while the night is specifically made for sleep and meditation and of course prayer too.
From my experience,you cannot be your best during the day if all you do at night is to watch movies and stay on the phone to chat.
I recalled in my uncle's house at Festac many years ago, dinner time is 7pm and before you blink your eyes; they've all gone to bed.
Lagos is a place that if you fail to wake up early enough; you will be a late comer to work daily and if you don't want to die earlier than your time; you dare not stay awake watching movie or engaging in a mid night chat.
My colleagues who drives on Ikorodu road in Lagos knows that the Traffic around Palm Groove ; Fadeyi to Western Avenue will always delay you to work those years once you wake up late.
In the village also, they don't sleep late.Even during the moon stories, we still sleep early because trips to market most times start from 4am.
One of our sisters in Oyo town once said to me that God has demarcated sleeping time and productive time by switching on the light which is the sun during the day and switching it off at night so work can stop.
Some will ask me, what about Doctors , Hotel Workers and media people on shifts...They use their off- time to sleep and they rest before their night duties.The danger is when you fail to rest, you will soon be laid to rest.
My counsel to young people even though this indiscipline has also crept into the lives of adults is that; our nights should be used to rest principally so that we can have a much more productive day.
Many people have been involved in accidents because they did not sleep during the night before embarking on a journey.
I recall Bro Gbile Akanni will say to us at Gboko, those driving out of Benue the following day as we end MLR ( Ministers Leadership Retreat ) with a vigil should go to sleep and if you are not with a driver, then do not travel early but ensure that you catch a reasonable sleep and rest after the vigil.
Unfortunately, now people do not sleep at night because they are praying or meditating or reading to birth an idea but just because they are addicted to Movies, Chats, Instagram and so on.
Let me end by stating that THERE IS TIME FOR EVERYTHING.
Most high blood pressure cases in this century can be linked to stress, lack of sleep and wrong diets.
We must be deliberate and make conscious efforts.Just as we must not allow our productive day at work to be a time that someone will walk in to gist with us and then you end up not meeting your work Target; we must also ensure that we seek deliverance from our own very self..Mr Flesh who understands the implication of mis-use of our time.
I recall that London Graduate School awarded distinction in Time Management to 12 of us on the day of our Induction as Fellow Management Consultants on a basis we never knew before.
When we received our Dictinction Certificates I looked at the face a colleague who happens to be a Prof. from Sociology Department of University of Ibadan wondering how we achieved that grade; then the white man in charge of our set said; it was based on the fact that these 12 people were the first to arrive before the time of induction and our syndicate group was given number one.
Others could not undo what was already done.Certificates was already printed in our names.
Fear caught my heart despite the fact that I was part of the 12 but then I fear for many of us as we get late to Church and never get late to the airports and then I asked myself that day; perhaps this is how the Kingdom of heaven will be ?
Let us beware of time usage.
May the Lord have mercy on us and may He teach us to be disciplined enough to know what to do during the day and at night.
Dr. Gbenga Adeoye holds a PhD in Management Accounting .He also holds a Bachelor's Degree in Law ( LLB)
He is a Fellow of The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria,
A Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria.
An Arbitrator of UK and Nigeria with a Diploma in Criminology & Security Studies & a Distinction in Time Management Certification.
He is Passionate about World Peace, Good Governance, Tax Justice and Economic Development of Africa.
He can be reached on gbengaglobal@gmail.com
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