Time - The Sneaky Devil or the Divine Angel?

Time and tide wait for none. A stitch in time saves nine. Real fancy proverbs, aren't they? But what do they really mean? Most of us have wasted seconds, minutes, hours and even days doting on the past or dreaming up castles for the future. These precious seconds, minutes and hours once lost cannot be gained back, therefore, we should use them wisely and focus on the things that are important to us at the PRESENT.

An idle mind is the devil's workshop. The idle mind will make all kinds of amazing plans for the future, but it won't be able to put them in motion. Hence, instead of staying bored or idle, we should put our great mind to use by always giving it some kind of job to do. It can be anything...completing the Sudoku puzzle, organizing our cupboard, reading a book...it's totally up to us! Most of the times we do have a task to complete, but we keep delaying it just because either we are too bored or we don't want to do the task. Delaying something or putting something off is a major problem in today's generation, it also has a big, fancy word for it in the dictionary - PROCRASTINATION (dun, dun, dun!!!)

WHAT IS PROCRASTINATION?!!

Procrastination is the art of putting off something or saving something for later...only because you don't feel like doing it now. All it will lead to is a HUUUGE mountain of work, sitting at the end of the line, waiting just for you.....it will be sitting there and mocking you!! To stop the mockery you would need to pass through lots of stress and anxiety, pull off all-nighters and finish all your coffee packets...then only you might get the work done. Not to mention..the completed work might be fine or alright, but it wouldn't be extraordinary or the best version of what you could have done. It would just be like a prototype with which you would then have to work with.

DEADLINES HELP (IN A WEIRD WAY)

What?! No! We hate deadlines, they are the worst! Maybe not. Deadlines actually help a lot more than you think..but there are also some side effects to it. When people start coming closer to their deadlines, their first reaction is to panic. This panic then slowly starts to take over their minds and then they end up doing the work one way or another....whether it's copying homework from a friend or writing a 3 month observation paper in 3 days...they do finish the task. Of course, as mentioned earlier, the work wouldn't be great or anything but you still get some marks right? So I guess that the lesson to take from this is that is if you stop procrastinating, and finish the work when it is given to you, there will be no deadlines! (atleast for you).

HOW DO I STOP FROM PROCRASTINATING?

Every problem has a definitive solution. Similarly, procrastination also has a solution. A method which I find effective to stop from procrastinating is that I complete my work the moment it is given (sometimes) or schedule it at a reasonable time and then make sure to finish it. Getting up early in the morning is actually the best time to do any task. It helps in the innovation of new and inspirational ideas because at that time you have a fresh and a clear mind. The things you find boring to do or maybe a little difficult would actually become much more easier to complete in the morning, plus, you will also be free for the rest of the day!

AFTER ALL WE ARE HUMANS, RIGHT?

Sometimes, procrastination is fine. Nobody's perfect, nobody's a fully functioning robot. You can spend some time on dreaming castles in the air or thinking about yummy brownies (everybody does that!), but be sure to not exceed your designated leisure time. John Lennon once said, "Time you enjoy wasting, is not wasted." But, it's up to you to not let the little devil sitting on your shoulder take over the control room of your mind, you need to fight the evil devil and let the divine angel take over. I promise you, the feeling that you get when one of your friends come to you and tell you that they still have loads of work to do, but you have already completed the given task, is priceless ;D!! If you have delayed a job then promise yourself to complete it at the scheduled time, DON'T KEEP PROCRASTINATING, 'cause in the end, it's you who suffer the worst blow.

GET INSPIRED

There's also a different technique known as the PODOMORO TECHNIQUE. I'm not going to go in much detail about it, but just briefly, in the Podomoro you put all your focus on the work you need to complete, just for 20-25 minutes, and then reward yourself....like listening to you favourite song, texting your friends or cuddling your dog. Not only does this reward helps to motivate yourself, but it also keeps you happy while studying.There are also different Podomoro apps on the net which you can download to help yourself. On an ending note, I would like to recommend a very hilarious TED talk on procrastination, by Tim Urban. It was one of my main inspirations to write on this topic. Really hope you guys like it! And, as rightly said by the Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu- "Time is a created thing. To say I DON'T HAVE TIME is to say I DON'T WANT TO."

https://youtu.be/arj7oStGLkU - The TED talk

LEARNING HOW TO LEARN : BARBARA OAKLEY - The book from which I learnt about the Podomoro Technique