|12th Nov 22|18:05|
Whether you admit it or not, there are times when you feel compelled to rush through tasks in order to complete them as quickly as possible. I, for one, want to finish my work as soon as possible so that I can collapse into my bed and do other things online. I don't like wasting time; I try to make my days as productive as possible by doing as many things as I can. In a world that is so productive, demanding, and expensive, there is no room for slacking. Even the holidays are spent working on side hustles. Because every minute counts and every action matters.
It is true for the majority of us. It occurs not only at work, but also in achieving our goals. We always hope to achieve them as soon as possible, resulting in a rushed process. Unfortunately, we become dissatisfied at some point if things do not fall into place, goals are not pursued, and time is simply wasted.
I, at some point, feel like turning back the hands of time if I feel like I've squandered a lot of it but accomplished nothing. It makes me wonder what I am capable of doing or if I am capable of achieving my goals because things are pointless and there is no progress.
And sometimes, those rash decisions and rushing things just left me regretting my impractical actions, and it appears that failure lessons are not being learned. I'm always not learning from mistakes.
I have a lot of goals and plans that I want to pursue and achieve at different points in my life, but I sometimes end up doing other things. That is most likely to occur when I have a lot on my plate and keep adding more because I believe I can handle it all. As a result, I am frequently distracted and exhausted. It's as if the world is ending tomorrow and I need to finish everything today.
Should I blame Benjamin Franklin's adage, "Don't put off until tomorrow what you can do today." Because I believe I am capable of doing a lot but only exhaust my body. True enough. I'm too hard on myself. Up until now, many of my goals have not yet been realized. And the longer it takes and the less I get, the more I am disappointed with myself. You can't blame me; the year is almost over, and I still haven't met my goals.
Am I doing it correctly? Or simply being in a hurry. When I was saving a video on Canva the other day, this proverb appeared in the saving window and hit me right in the gut.
Just pace slowly, not hurriedly, because it is better than being stagnant. That is the main point here.
I was looking out of the window this morning and I saw this man sweeping the scattered sand off the green field. It was caused by the recent typhoon. It may look easy, but sweeping grains of sand off the grass field is much harder than ordinary sweeping dirt off the floor. The old man looked pitiful and exhausted.
He began sweeping at nine o'clock in the morning. I returned after an hour to find him still sweeping the scattered grains of sand. Would you dare to do such a job for an hour? He swept slowly but steadily, as if he wanted to clear the grass field with sand. However, as the wind blew through the area, the sand just scattered again.
He was still sweeping when students arrived at 10:30 a.m. Imagine his determination to complete the task assigned to him. Regrettably, I was staring at him as if no one cared about him. Nonetheless, he kept sweeping the sand grains off the green field.
Was he able to sweep all the scattered sand off the grass field?
I went back to check his progress at 11 in the morning, but he was not there anymore. He abandoned the job, probably after realizing that he can't totally clear the area. The result? It is evidently shown in the photo below.
So what's the catch here?
Not everything that appears simple to us can be completed in a single day; we can always return tomorrow. And if we believe something is impossible to achieve, let us not push ourselves to the breaking point, as this will only compromise some aspects. In this scenario, the man cannot clear the sand from the green field by simply sweeping it. However, it is possible if he will use a vacuum, which I hope he will consider.
So another catch...
Not because we fail to do a thing, or fail to achieve our goals doesn't mean we will stop pursuing them. There are a lot of ways to make things happen, to achieve our goals. We just need to think about how to do it. The time will come when things we aim for will fall into place. We just need to pace slowly, not hurriedly, but steadily without losing our focus.
What matters here? We are doing something to make it happen, not just standing still. If we can't achieve our goals today, there are still a lot of tomorrows. As long as we keep our steady pace, we will be able to achieve our goals. Again, just trust the process, and enjoy the journey instead.
This is just a pretty reminder to myself, and to people out there who seem to be rushing things, and those who are simply slacking.
You know what to do!
Lead image from: https://unsplash.com/photos/RlC1eHzJOFI
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Very sound advice. Better to complete correctly than to finish sloppy. It's a hard thing to do when you have a plate full. I guess many of us in these situations need to have patience and priortize better. Thanks for this it has come to me with great timing.