I was struggling today to slog through my list of tasks and I was feeling more and more weight on my shoulders. Then I discovered this prose:
…the primal cause of that inconvenient dissatisfaction is the feeling that you are every day leaving undone something which you would like to do, and which, indeed, you are always hoping to do when you have “more time”;…you will never have “more time,” since you already have all the time there is–you expect me to let you into some wonderful secret by which you may at any rate approach the ideal of a perfect arrangement of the day, and by which, therefore, that haunting, unpleasant, daily disappointment of things left undone will be got rid of!
To which I, of course, responded a resounding YES!
And the book responded:
I have found no such wonderful secret. Nor do I expect to find it, nor do I expect anyone else will ever find it. It is undiscovered.
Great!?! So I am still left with a two page to do list. And no idea how to start.
The response:
…”how do I begin?” Dear Sir (it’s an old book), you simply begin. There is no magic of beginning. If a man standing on the edge of a swimming-bath and wanting to jump into the cold water should ask you, “How do I begin to jump?” you would merely reply, “Just jump. Take hold of your nerves and jump.”
The best thing is this reminder of starting:
…the chief beauty about a constant supply of time is that you cannot waste it in advance. The next year, the next day, the next hour are lying ready for you, as perfect, as unspoilt, as if you had never wasted or misapplied a single moment in all your career. Which fact is very gratifying and reassuring. You can turn over a new leaf every hour if you choose. Therefore no object is served in waiting till next week, or even until tomorrow. You may fancy that the water will be warmer next week. It won’t.
Start!
Here is a copy of the book: How to Live on 24 Hours A Day, by Arnold Bennett.
Tags: Life Instruction Manual, time, time waster
