There was once a young student named Ravi, who was struggling to keep up with his hectic life. His days were packed with assignments, deadlines, and endless classes, leaving little room for anything else. He had dreams of pursuing his hobbies, exploring new interests, and engaging in extracurricular activities, but he couldn’t seem to find the time.
One day, feeling overwhelmed and disillusioned, Ravi sat down in his room, staring at the mess of his calendar and to-do lists. A thought crossed his mind: Why do I always feel like I don’t have enough time for the things I want to do? It was then that his teacher, Acharya Prashant, had given a talk that resonated deeply with him.
"Time management," Acharya had said, "is really value management."
At first, Ravi was confused. Time management was something everyone seemed to talk about — but value management? What did that even mean?
Acharya continued, "If you truly understand the value of something, you will find time for it. If you’re not giving time to something, it means you are giving more importance to something else. Your time profile is a reflection of your value profile."
Ravi found this concept intriguing, so he decided to take a deeper look at his own life. He began by tracking his time for a week, carefully noting down where his hours went.
The results were shocking.
He had spent more time scrolling through social media than he had thought. Each hour spent on Instagram or YouTube felt fleeting, but added up to hours of his day. Then there were the hours of mindless conversations, the distractions from notifications, and the time spent lying in bed staring at his phone, even after he had "gone to sleep."
When Ravi calculated it all, he realized something: his time wasn’t just spent — it was wasted. And the worst part was that he hadn’t even realized it.
This revelation didn’t sit well with him. Ravi had always thought of himself as busy, but what was he truly busy with? Where was the time for his real passions — the ones that had been buried under a mountain of distractions? He remembered his wish to learn the guitar, take up sports, explore photography, and maybe even write for the campus magazine.
Yet, every time he said there was no time for those things, he was ignoring a simple truth: time follows your values.
If Ravi had truly valued his hobbies and personal growth, he would have made time for them. Instead, his time had flowed toward activities that were, at best, fleeting distractions. He had given more weight to things like scrolling through the latest trends, checking memes, and keeping up with influencers, all of which drained his energy without offering any real value in return.
Acharya's words echoed in Ravi's mind: You are where you are spending your time. That’s your identity, your name, your personality.
Ravi had always seen himself as someone with big dreams, someone who wanted to be more than just a student with good grades. He wanted to be someone who actively participated in life, not just in academics, but also in arts, sports, and self-development. But for that, he had to shift his priorities.
In the days that followed, Ravi started making small changes. He set aside specific times for reading, practicing the guitar, and exercising. He began organizing his schedule more thoughtfully, making sure to balance his academics with his personal growth.
It wasn’t easy at first. He still felt the temptation to check his phone every few minutes, and some nights he’d lie in bed thinking about all the things he "could have done." But slowly, he realized that the time he thought he didn’t have was always there — waiting for him to decide where to invest it.
As Ravi took charge of his time, he noticed something extraordinary: the more he invested in things that truly mattered to him, the more energized and fulfilled he felt. The gym sessions, the quiet moments with a book, the hours spent learning the guitar — these weren’t just time fillers; they were adding to his sense of self, building his identity, and reinforcing his values.
In a few months, Ravi had transformed. His grades still mattered, but now he had a rich, well-rounded personality. He was no longer someone who merely managed time — he was someone who valued it. The tennis court was no longer a distant place in his mind; it was where he spent his weekends practicing, letting go of the stresses of the week. The library wasn’t a place he "had to" visit — it was where he found joy in learning outside the classroom.
Ravi’s journey taught him one crucial lesson: time is not something we can manage or control in isolation; it is an extension of our values. If we truly value something, time will follow. It’s not about managing time; it’s about managing our priorities.
And in that realization, Ravi found the freedom to shape his life the way he wanted, not as a victim of time, but as a master of it.
If you’re ever feeling pressed for time, stop and ask yourself: What do I truly value? The time you give to something will always reflect how much importance you place on it. Manage your values, and your time will fall into place.