Nick Pasko

Programmer goes enterpreneurship.

Monday, January 30, 2006

Why should I care about time-management?

I have just risen from a night sleep, and this night's dreams were more useful than anytime I can remember.
Aside from my usual night-dream stuff like fighting monsters, roaming around strange places and having some sex, I drank beer and had a very heated conversation with some friend of mine.

To make things short, we were going to some university lecture, and he told be that from his experience these lectures are extremely boring, though he liked them because it was a good time to just sit there and do nothing, enjoying your life.
My point was, it is stupid to go to such lectures and waste your time on nothing. I went even futher, as I tend to when it comes to our universities, and said that generally the university is a great waste of 5 to 6 years of your life. By the time you graduate, it is nearly one fourth of your entire life, or one third of your conscious life. Quite a lot, if you ask me.
Instead, you can decide yourself what to do with your time. What things to learn, what work to do, what experience to have, etc.

My opponent stated that he doesn't waste any more time than he would waste if he had full control on it. I.e. he would wander around the house, perhaps drinking his lemon tea now and then, perhaps lying down and making his thoughts fly high, perhaps drinking alcohol, watching TV, etc.
Even more waste, he said.

I argued that I know the reason why he's so ineffective with his time, so that he even doesn't consider most things as 'waste'. When he was a child, his parents decided for him, when and what he should do. When he grown up a bit - he went to school, and teachers began to decide for him. When he become a teenager and urged to get some control of his life - he was once again bound in chains of university, letting the others (yet again) to decide what, when and how he should learn and practice. Thus, he has no skills in time-management at all. He doesn't have enough practice with it. He doesn't notice his bad habits of time management. He wastes an hour of his life - and it's ok, because that's exactly what he was doing for his entire lifetime. He wastes some more - and perhaps he will notice, or perhaps the others will notice. Or perhaps not.
Thus, he drinks, he wanders around, he sits and thinks some stupid and useless thoughts, he watches TV, he visits a boring lecture - he is letting his life go by.

The opponent didn't agree with me, and the argument went on. I was becoming so angry, that I was ready to beat the shit out of anyone who would disturb our conversation.
Slowly, in progress of argument, I started to become awake. I become more cool, more argumentative, and as time went by, I started to wonder why should I try and change that person's mind? He obviously wouldn't listen to my thoughts, he obviously won't agree with me no matter how intelligent my speech would be. Or, in the contrary, no matter how hard would I beat him. He just won't change his mind, anyway.

Then, once I became finally awake, a single flash of thought ran through my mind: this person is me! This stupid, ignorant, inefficient, life-wasting dumb-head.. is me! Oh shit.

Thus said, I think I should care about time management.

Do you?