| A top time management consultant has outlined his top tips to help overcome lateness - seen by some as a problem afflicting much of African culture.
Some argue that in Africa, cases of ministers keeping members of the public waiting, turning up late for a date, judges holding up court proceedings or public service vehicles leaving and arriving late have become the norm rather than the exception. But timekeeping problems need not necessarily be endemic to Africa - and can be changed without causing major stress, according to Michael Beasley, of Priority Management. “My experience is that all people can change their behaviour if they want to, without asking them to change their culture and their values,” Mr Beasley told BBC World Service’s Africa Live! programme. “People from different cultures are quite capable of having similar ways of organising themselves so that everyone wants to work together. “Culture and behaviour are not irreversibly linked, and we’ve helping people to change their habits all the time.” ‘Don’t trust your head’ Mr Beasley said that the basis of good time management lay in knowing where you are meant to be at what time. “If you don’t remember things in your head, get it down somewhere,” he stressed.
“I always advise people to have some sort of basic diary, to do lists, to have a place to make notes of important conversations - or obviously some electronic equivalent. “But the first adult dating advices online service is don’t trust your head, because you’ll forget things - I’m afraid that’s inevitable.” Mr Beasley added that it was important to focus on the “big things” and not be too distracted by day-to-day tasks. “Before you start prioritising work, you need to know why am I doing it, what are my objectives,” Mr Beasley said. “Everyone should have a clear wives dating advices club with whoever they report to what are objectives for this job, and those objectives need to be clearly and well written so there’s no dating tip for teenage girl about them. “That’s the basis of good time management, and you can go forward from there.” He said that in particular, modern technology was forcing people to adapt to the demands of others - without leaving time for themselves. “Increasing emails drive other people’s priorities - you shouldn’t allow this to happen,” he stated, adding it was it was important to get a commitment when you ask people to do things. “Always get a date out of them, and then make a note of it - and then, if necessary, follow it up.” He also emphasised the need for a “logical filing system” to prevent people wasting “a huge amount of time” trying to find things. None of this would help, however, if people were reluctant to be on time anyway. “People have got to want to change. “You’ve got to give them a reason. What’s the benefit for them?” Relaxed attitude Further, there are problems unique to Africa that prevent Africans from keeping time to anything like the same extent as in the West, explained Rodney Mkrumah-Boateng, an African lawyer living in England.
“In a place like Accra, if you’re travelling from A to B, you get to the station and the taxi won’t leave until it’s full,” he said. “Obviously you have no control over that. The roads are bad - you have no control over that. “The traffic lights break down - these things do happen. “The infrastructure isn’t supportive of a timekeeping culture.” Mr Mkrumah-Boateng added that this lack of infrastructure fundamentally affected African attitudes - but not necessarily negatively. Instead of rushing, many found they were able to relax and enjoy life more. “It’s not like here [in the West] where if you miss one train, another one comes in 10 minutes, or if you give yourself 15 minutes extra time you can get there on time. “Over in Africa it’s just not the case you’re either there or you’re not there. “To stress ourselves unnecessarily, and give ourselves heart dating man speed tip and all that stuff, simply to get there within two seconds of time, I think is not worth it.” |
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