remain motivated and curious. Overly
enthusiastic, sure, but overly optimistic,
think again.
So often you’ll hear things like, you can
do it, just set aside 20 minutes, or 10
min etc. Don’t fall for that temptation.
Examine the current demands on your
time and be reasonable about how
much you can really devote to anything
new. It helps to remember that
everything adds up. If you are serious
about finding the time to work on
things that are important to you, learn
to say no. Try and say “no” to everything
non-essential, non-core. It will save you
a lot of time, believe me. I politely turn
down 98% of all speaking invitations.
Even then, I struggle to find a few spare
moments. (I know it’s neither healthy
nor sustainable and I’m fast making
amends. After a long and tiring day, I’m
writing this post at midnight.) If you
wish to produce quality, you will need
to put in the time. There’s no other way
that I know of.
Important things first
Build your day around the things that
matter to you. This is just about the only
way to ensure that you will get them
done. And, it’s not the same as eating
the frog first. Because I’m not saying
that get the most difficult action item
out of the way before anything else
(though that surely helps). Instead, I’m
referring to creating your daily schedule
around the essentials. That is, what are
the top two or three things you must do
every day. Whether that’s exercising,
devoting time to learning a new
language, writing your dream book or
anything else at all.
Let’s say you always wanted to write a
book but just can’t seem to get to it.
Well, tell yourself that at x am or pm
every day, you will sit down to write,
and you won’t get up till you have
written 500 or n number of words. Base
your other activities around this one.
When the clock strikes that time, sit
down, turn off your phone, disconnect
from the world and start writing. You
can take any example, the philosophy
remains the same. Write down not only
what you must do on a daily basis but at
what time you will do it and for how long. “Nasrudin!” she bellowed. “Stop this!
When I was a kid like you, I was told if I
made ugly faces, it would freeze, and I
would stay like that.”
Ideally, your time allocation should be
mindfully done between important and
urgent things. In doing urgent things,
we often postpone and neglect the
important ones. Avoid this trap by
resolutely setting time for not just what
is essential to living (urgent) but life too
(important). Mulla immediately relaxed his face, and
said, “Well, madam, you can’t say that
you weren’t warned.”
One day at a time Say no to everything that’s not relevant
to your journey. Anything that’s not in
line with your priorities, say no. Just say
no.
There’s an old story about a man
lamenting that he always wanted to
learn to play the piano, but could never
find the time because of his other
responsibilities.
Now, you can’t say that you didn’t know
about how to live your life fully or how
to make the best use of your time. I’ve
shared with you the easiest way to the
best of my knowledge.
Be reasonable, prioritize and take a step
at a time.
“Why don’t you start now?” asked his
friend.
“Are you kidding?” he retorted. “I’m fifty
years old! It’ll take me five years to learn
to play well. I’d be fifty-five by the time I
become even remotely proficient as a
pianist.”
His friend paused, then inquired “So,
how old will you be in five years if you
don’t learn to play the piano?” 2
This is perhaps the most important
point. Often our dreams are big and we
aspire for the highest, the best. In doing
so, we tend to underestimate how long
it’ll actually take us to reach our goal.
The journey appears long and daunting.
Just remember, if you won’t do it, it
won’t get done. And if you want to do it,
do the best you can with whatever time
and resources you have at hand bearing
in mind that what may seem like a little
effort today will matter when you do a
bit more tomorrow. It stacks up real
fast.
Nothing will happen if you don’t act.
The young Mulla Nasrudin was making
faces at other children in his school.
With his wide array of contortions, he
was scaring some and amusing others
until a teacher saw what he was up to.
About Author
Om Swami is a mystic living in
the Himalayan foothills. He has
a Bachelor’s degree in business
and an MBA from Sydney,
Australia. Prior to his
renunciation of this world, he
founded and successfully ran a
multimillion-dollar software
company. He is the bestselling
author of A Fistful of wisdom,
The Ancient Science of Mantras,
A Million Thoughts, Kundalini:
An Untold Story, A Firstful of
Love and If Truth Be Told: A
Monk’s Memoir.
Jan. 2020 www.yogicherald.com
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