Winter Break And The Time We Don't Have

Yeah. It came. At last.

Now the only question is, what to do with it? Ain't it always the same question? Every single time you have time, you have all this things you have to take care of, and the time you thought you had, suddenly, you don't. Not anymore, or at least, not to spare.

Napoleon - the short one - used to say that you don't have time, you make time. He's right, you know? We lead busy, busy lives. We have to make time for time. And for all those other silly little things that we neglect on an overstressed workday. Like eating or sleeping right. Some people forget to dream high. I know I forget to work out. Or I just am too lazy after a full day of studying and working and public transportation. Yeah, I know you know what I mean. Tall people and their smelly armpitches cramped into a bus on their way to the suburbs. Yucks. Who wants to work out after that?

Anyways, here am I, bloging. And thinking of my to do list. Yes, a to do list is a very important artifact over the winter break - or any break. Actually, it's just grand, I'm a fan. You know that doctor you should have gone to a couple of months ago? It's on the list. What about the dentist? On the list. Going to the bank to see about that credit card? On the list. The dog needs his shot? The List. The trip you're planning? Put it on The List. See? It's easy to postpone the suffering and to keep on neglecting. My advice? Yes, lists are nice. I, for instance, am adicted to them. But you NEED a deadline, my friend. Or else you'll keep on not having time and not doing anything about the things that need to be done in your life. And trust me, there are always things that need to be done "yesterday" in our lives.

Happy are those who are very very busy. And very very happy about that.

Procrastination is like masturbation

To procrastinate, from latin procrastinatus: pro- (forward, before) and crastinus (of tomorrow). The only thing we don't leave for tomorrow is the habit to procrastinate. It refers to the deferment of tasks to a later time. Psychologists attribute this behavior to stress and anxiety. For a behavior to be classified as procrastination, it must be counterproductive, needless and delaying. I've been perfecting my procrastination skills throughout my whole academic life. I am queen of procrastination: here I am, 2am with an exam tomorrow morning, and I'm writing a post on procrastination.

Most people who write about procrastination either discuss the psychological roots of it or how to avoid it, deal with it. I will do neither. I want you to understand how this time-consuming habit isn't the big bad wolf after all.

Napoleon Hill said procrastination is the man's biggest enemy. I will respectfully disagree. Procrastination is the mother of ócio criativo. Really. My most creative self is my very overworked and overstressed self. I have all these incredible ideas for parallel projects and always get a lot done during my procrastination-breaks - just not what I was supposed to be doing.

Don't get me wrong: deadlines are friends of chronic procrastinators - we only get things on the move with the approaching of the due date. But the time we "waste" wasn't wasted at all. We may read silly things online, or watch a movie, or maybe write something interestingly out of context. It doesn't matter really what you do, but you should always channel your "idleness activity" into the creation of something new. Creativity is the key: Da Vinci is one famous procrastinator - and I guess nobody would mind being a little more like him. As long as you use your procrastination to do better and greater things, you are doing okay. When you stop fighting your nature and embrace it, work with it instead of against it, you will have better results in less time - if you know you will only do the studying on the last week before the exams, or write that paper on the very last day, you can schedule your life accordingly. I think it's high time we stop deluding and torturing ourselves and start working with what we have - we might be happily surprised.

Are you saying that there's no such thing as self-discipline? Of course I'm not. Self-discipline of the mind and body is the hardest and most rewarding path to get things done. I've had self-discipline and it was fabulous: I slept little and ate right and my grades were perfect. It lasted 6 months. Do I want it back? Merlin, yes. But for now, I'm scheduling procrastination-breaks before and during my last week of exams. To know oneself. And I know myself pretty darn well.

Further reading: 
Slate Magazine - Procrastination series
Não Posso Evitar - Rodolfo Araújo
Good and Bad Procrastination

If

There are a lot of motivational crap online these days. Offline too - and those are entitled self-help books. But there is a particular poem that I thought I should share with you today. It is not a motivational poem. And it is most certainly not a crappy poem. It might be one of my favorite piece of poetry ever written. Every time I read these verses I realize what low and terrible excuse of a human begin I actually am. I think the world would be a better place if we all could thrive to be a little more like Kippling thought we could. If only we tried. If.

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master,
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it all on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings - nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man, my son!

You may wonder, why am I sharing this fantastic albeit completely out of context (is there a context to this blog?) piece of literature with you? I just watched a very good movie today - Gosford Park - not for the first time, mind you. But today I was very interested in the servants (usually I'm just interested in Maggie Smith). In particularly, in being really good in something. Excelling in something.

Ironically, the character I'm speaking of, Mrs Wilson, was a very, very, good servant. She said: "What gift do you think a good servant has that separates them from the others? It's the gift of anticipation. And I'm a good servant. I'm better than good. I'm the best. I'm the perfect servant. I know when they'll be hungry and the food is ready. I know when they'll be tired and the bed is turned down. I know it before they know it themselves."

Another guy I like said we could be so much better if we didn't want to be so great. What is to excel? Is thriving to excel making us so mediocre? Then how come some people overcome the mediocre barrier? How can some people reach greatness? How do they do that? What have they got? Is it inspiration or is it transpiration? How high should the standards be? Alas, too many uanswered questions for today. Maybe another day, maybe from another perspective.

Footnote: The movie is full of excellent actors. And then Helen Mirren is on. And my grandmother: "Helen Mirren!" Yes, folks, the bloody Hollywoodian machine in a half-Alzheimer's brain - it can only remember rather recent Oscars. Too acid?