Read the following passage.
Meenal is the only girl from her village who has reached High School. For this, she has to move away from her village and stay in the city. She has made a lot of friends and every time she is invited by them to attend parties, she is unable to say 'no' to them. This leaves her with less time to study, which adds to her stress level. She has been procrastinating her work and spends more time thinking that she will not be successful in life. This has increased her tension and resulted in a lack of confidence in her. Quite often she vents out her feelings of anger and frustration at her parents. Her teacher, who had been observing her, advised her to take charge of herself and seek professional help from a psychologist who uses cognitive behavioural techniques to reduce stress.
What would you suggest to Meenal to manage her time?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 2
The correct answer is Option (2) → Spend time doing things that she values to help achieve her goal
Option (1) Plan her time and delegate her responsibilities to her friends — Incorrect. Learning to plan time and delegate does help to relieve time pressure. But Meenal’s main responsibility is her own study, which no friend can do for her, and her friends are the very people taking her time. Handing her responsibilities to them would not solve her problem.
Option (2) Spend time doing things that she values to help achieve her goal — Correct. The central principle of time management is to spend one’s time doing the things one values, or that help one achieve one’s goals. For Meenal, whose goal is to do well in her studies, this means giving her time to study instead of to every party.
Option (3) Organize her life for work-life imbalance — Incorrect. Time management means organising one’s life to achieve a balance between what one must do and what one wants to do. An imbalance is what Meenal already suffers from. Two letters, ‘im’, turned a good piece of advice into a bad one; read every word of the option.
Option (4) Keep herself healthy and relaxed — Incorrect. Staying healthy and relaxed is the life skill of self-care, which helps one cope with stress in general. It does not tell Meenal how to use her time.
NCERT (2025-26): “Time Management : The way you spend your time determines the quality of your life. Learning how to plan time and delegate can help to relieve the pressure. The major way to reduce time stress is to change one’s perception of time. The central principle of time management is to spend your time doing the things that you value, or that help you to achieve your goals. It depends on being realistic about what you know and that you must do it within a certain time period, knowing what you want to do, and organising your life to achieve a balance between the two.…” |