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Monday, 16 January 2017

General Sherman took a long time to grow upto 84 metres

It's a new year and I am now proceeding into my tenth finals and my eleventh grade. This got me thinking. On the eve of new year looked back and looked at all the times I told myself that I would do something in the year but never ended up doing. I procrastinated all my objectives of 2016 until the eve of 2017 and got sad that I didn't finish them.

Procrastination is the jack of all bad trades.

The Sydney Opera House was planned in the late 1940s and construction started in 1957 but it was finally opened to people in 1973 and it took three times as much money to build as planned.Why? Why was the project a 33 year plan or why did it take three times the required amount to build it? because of procrastination.

Lets take an example:
You have been assigned a project to do in geography for November and currently it is August. You think that there is three months of time and that sooner or later you will finish the project.You wile away time till the week before the project and you think that this week you will definitely finish it. But suddenly, the teachers of various subjects announce several tests for that week itself and you find yourself in a fix. The project is for Friday and its already Thursday. Now what to do? You stay up all night trying to complete a project which you would have otherwise easily completed if you would have done it in the previous months when you still had a lot of time. Eventually you finish by dawn and your project is half as good as you had planned it out to be because face it, you cannot push a week's work in one night.

What did you do wrong here?
You procrastinated. You thought that you have a lot of time in hands and you will eventually finish the work assigned but you did not factor in all the unforeseeable events that could have taken place like the tests.
Why do we procrastinate? The main reason is because there is a lot of time between sowing and reaping and we fail to realise that what we sow, is what we ultimately end up reaping.

You must have heard the story of the man who sowed seeds of an apple tree when he was about middle aged with a baby. people told him that it was useless because apple trees take a long time to germinate into a full sized tree. The man simply smiled and said that he may not be able to enjoy the fruits of the apple tree but after he dies, his son will surely be able to eat the delicious apples from the tree which would have grown fully.
Sometimes we must do things now so that we can enjoy it in the future. People often say save money now and you will have enough for a rainy day. Start working now and you will be able to secure a good future.

One must do things at the earliest to hope to do something better in the future. With this new year, I ask you to try not to procrastinate your objectives. They are beneficial for you. Do your taxes, finish your homework and finish everything you have to do.
Learn to say no.
Saying no is very difficult and is not easy to do. you must say no to all that which is not important for your life. The teachings of Epictetus teach us that we must let go of all unwanted things and focus only on our aims in life. So try your best to say no to things that do not matter but also sometimes say yes because once in a while you need a break.


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