Friday, May 16, 2008

Time Management?

There is no such thing. We might as well be talking about tornado management... You don't manage time, you don't direct it, you watch it as it carries you along the river.  

Must have been in a dire mood when I wrote this...

There’s a clock in the room where I sit
That loudly goes tick, tick, tick
The constant barrage, destroys the mirage
That my life will ever be fixed

As each moment is measured by clicks
I’m reminded of all that is fixed
The more things change, the more they’re the same
Oh the pain of being betwixt

It is then that a plan comes to mind
With brute force I will make it benign
With my fist I will bash it, my chair I will smash it, 
But still it goes tick, tick, tick
(This bad poem belongs to me and may not be reproduced without my permission :)

Moses said, teach us to number our days. What that exactly means I am not sure. What is clear is that we don't control the clock...we fill it...we cram it full of meaningful moments or sit idly by as it marches on. 

Personally i am tired of missed minutes, moments, and opportunities. I am working really hard to redirect my mind from the expired minutes of the past or the anticipated but not guaranteed moments of the future. I am trying to live this moment, no this one, no this one... see how fast they come and go :)

(By the way, side note - Joseph Brodsky has a great little essay called "In Praise of Boredom". I believe it was an address at Dartmouth - In it he warns the graduates that the moments of exhilaration and greatness will be few and far between. He says it's our ability to live in the "boring" moments in-between that define us.) 


5 comments:

  1. Eloquently put, Daren. We are all but slaves to the tick of a clock.

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  2. Ahhh Daren:) Glad you joined my club of bad ditties:) I'm not alone!

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  3. I'm so much into time management and doing it so well I have become a robot that writes, takes care of Mom and grandkids, and never, never wastes a minute. I write my list of todo everynight and follow it to the letter. I'm functioning so well. But I'm not living. I'm just functioning. I wish I can lie down and relax, talk and relax, walk and relax, swim and relax. I wish I can waste my time for a change and enjoy it.
    Time mangement is not a solution it's a tyrant.

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  4. Very well put. If we stop living, what good are our accomplishments? Somewhere we have to strike a balance.

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  5. Daren, put. down. the. gun. Whatever it is, we can sit down and talk about it.

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