1 . How many times have you complained, “There aren’t enough hours in the day!?”

Holly Gabrielle White, a vlogger who graduated from the University of Cambridge, probably disagrees. After she began school in August 2016, White started a channel on the video-sharing website YouTube.    1    . Now she has more than 270,000 subscribers to her channel.

In her videos, the 22-year-old gets up at 6:30 am and goes to bed at 10:30 pm every day. In between, she balances studying, cooking, house cleaning and exercising.    2    .

A similar case happened to college students in China. Months ago, the official Tsinghua University microblog account showed pictures of students’ plans, study notes and daily schedules. In one of them, an undergraduate tightly arranges his daily life. He usually goes to bed at 1 :00 am and gets up at 6:00 am. Although he only takes 10 classes a week , the rest of his day will be fully booked. He starts his day by pre-reading his textbooks at 6: 40 am, and ends with a summary of his studies.    3    , he writes encouragements to himself, like, “You’re the best”, and “Go for it”.

Both students’ hard work has certainly paid off. White was at the top of her 152 other classmates and the Chinese undergraduate won a first-class scholarship four years in a row.

    4    . They have regular schedules and get up early to study. They squeeze as much into the schedule as they can. More importantly, they learn a way of managing time well and efficiently.

Some may wonder how they can avoid exhaustion, stress and burnout. White’s video Time Management &Organization Tips All Students Should Know may provide an answer. She advises how to write our tasks in a set order on a to-do list.    5     , because, “Mental health is as important as our physical health.” To White, dancing is something she takes as a reward after completing everything on the list. Then get enough sleep to rest her body and get ready to do a good job the next day.

Indeed, things must be carefully planned before we act, and then “twice as much can be accomplished with half the effort”, as the old Chinese saying goes.

6 . Time is one of the most valuable commodities we have. It is a non-renewable resource that,once lost, cannot be regained.    1    But how we choose to spend it can make or break our lives.

We frequently run out of time in today’s fast-paced world. We have deadlines, appointments and responsibilities to meet within a certain time.    2    We may believe that we have all the time in the world, but before we know it, the day is over, the week is over and another year has passed.

The proverb “time and tide wait for none” reminds us that time is a limited resource that we must make the most of.     3    We should prioritize our tasks, set goals and work towards achieving them. We should avoid procrastination (拖延) and make every moment count.

    4    We live in a world where social media, emails and notifications take most of our attention. It is so easy to get sucked into endlessly watching videos or looking at posts. However,if we allow these distractions to take over, we risk wasting valuable time that could be spent on more productive activities.

“Time and tide wait for none” also reminds us that time is valuable and should not be squandered (挥霍). We should treasure every moment and make the most of it. We should spend time with our loved ones, pursue our passions and do things that make us happy.     5    

The proverb serves as a powerful reminder of the value of time management. Time is a finite resource that must be used wisely. So, let us all strive to maximise our time and live our lives to the fullest.