The surprising reason you waste time
Even though you shouldn’t — a short story.
I grew up in a big family. A family of 7 in total.
But we’d always have, in addition, 2–3 people stay with us.
Visitors are considered a blessing in my culture, and it’s shunned to refuse them, lest they gossip about your selfishness.
Good thing our house was big. We lived in the capital, a factor that contributed to us having countless visitors.
Some came to continue their education and needed a place to stay.
Others came for medical treatment. And some had more joyful reasons: weddings.
My mother welcomed all.
Beds and showers were enough- but food wasn’t.
My mother’s salary was average, but she was a resourceful woman.
To this day, I haven’t met anyone as good at planning as my mother.
In my country, we have a tradition called a merry-go-round. Friends gather, pitch in some money, and take turns receiving the pooled funds.
The money goes around until each person receives their share, then they begin the process anew.
In advanced merry-go-rounds, they lend money to themselves and outsiders much like banks, to be paid back at a low interest rate.
It’s known as table banking.
Some groups use the funds to purchase land, build homes and begin profitable projects.
With the right intention and vision, merry-go-rounds are powerful.
My mum was part of an advanced merry-go-round. She’d often borrow money to feed us.
I’d get sent to pick up the money from our neighbour, then we’d proceed to the wholesale supermarket.
The supermarket was owned by Indians and was the opposite of Costco.
It was small, a bit dusty, and had plenty of shop assistants ready to help you find whatever you needed.
Suffice it to say, it got the job done.
We’d buy bales of corn flour, cooking oil, sugar, rice, tissue paper, jam, peanut butter, margarine, you name it.
It was supposed to last for three months, my mother hoped, but it never did.
With so much available, we’d use it freely, thinking the supply would never run out.
How shortsighted!
Quantity fooled us into thinking the stash was infinite.
That’s how most people think about time.
We believe there’s a limitless supply of 24-hour bales available every day, so we become wasteful and reckless with how we utilise it.
Has time ever been infinite?
Waking up to 24 hours every day creates the illusion that there’s always time available.
So we lack a sense of urgency.
This type of thinking encourages procrastination. We wait to do tomorrow what can be done today.
Tomorrow, the workload doubles, but the available time doesn’t. It remains 24 hours.
It’s time to reconsider our perception of time.
Avoid thinking:
“ I’ll get it done in the afternoon”.
“ One more hour then I’ll get to it.”
“Tomorrow, I’ll get it done.”
Tomorrow is a fresh bale of 24 hrs to do tomorrow’s tasks.
Get out of the habit of doing yesterday’s plus tomorrow’s tasks, tomorrow.
Get yesterday’s tasks done yesterday and today’s tasks done today.
My mum made a rule, if we finished the food before 3 months, we’d have to wait till the next purchase.
Experiencing the consequences of our actions taught us to consume with mindfulness and consideration.
We ceased being wasteful with food.
Cease being wasteful with time.
Don’t wait till you start experiencing the consequences of procrastinating.
The earlier you break this illusion, the better for you.
Knowing you did what you had to do when you had to do it brings with it mental peace and calm.
Wouldn’t you prefer that?
