Life Skills & Leadership: Unit 3, Session 4: Setting Priorities, Managing Time | Page 56 of 68Think about our opening activity. How much do you agree that “Need To” activities are like
rocks, “Have To” activities are like sand, and “Want To” activities are like water?
Which activities might be considered a waste of time because they kept you from doing
things you need to do or have to do?
Thinking about all the things you did, which of your activities did you have the most choice
about doing and which did you have the least choice about doing?Note: Expect a lot of differences between your cultural perspective on this last question and the perspective of the local
culture in your country. Be prepared to ask further questions to learn more about how the amount of choice around one’s
activities might be influenced by gender, age, relationship to authority, family affiliation, etc. in the host culture.
Respectfully offer your own perspective as another option to consider, if appropriate. It’s also possible that someone could
be in a better position to negotiate more choice in some situations if they have clear goals and can demonstrate their plans
to achieve them.Note: The last two questions of the discussion during “Need To, Have To, Want To” are an assessment of Learning Objective
1.B. Summary
Summarize by saying:
“Each day you probably are able to make some choices about your activities. You can’t just do what you
need to do or people who depend on you would be unhappy and you wouldn’t have much fun. You can’t
just do what you want to do or your parents would be upset and you would not make progress toward
your dream. But being clear about why you do all your daily activities is an important step in keeping
your ‘container’ from overflowing!”III. Practice ( 30 minutes)
Materials:
Pens or pencils
Flip chart 1: Stick Figure (This was also used in Unit 2, Session 3, “Decision Making”)
Flip chart 2: Using Time Effectively
Handout 2: A Full Cup for Tomorrow
A. Get Organized
Participants identify strategies to overcome common time-wasting activities.
- Prepare participants to evaluate the activities they will be doing in the near future. Say:
“We’ve been talking about the activities that took your time over the past day. Now I would like you to
look at the things you will be doing in the next day and consider which of them are activities you ‘Need
to’ do, ‘Have to’ do, and ‘Want to’ do. With a little planning, you can make sure your ‘cup’ holds a few
‘rocks’ for the long term, the ‘sand’ you have to carry, and some ‘water’ so you feel like you are having
fun.”