Wednesday, February 18, 2009

If Tomorrow Never Comes

A couple of hundred years ago, Benjamin Franklin shared with the world the secret of his success. Never leave that till tomorrow, he said, which you can do today. This is the man who discovered electricity. You think more people would listen to what he had to say. Well, not really!

I for one, is guity of this. Ever since I got my senses going (not too long ago), I've been putting off doing things at the "right" time, only to regret later. There would be one or the other trivial excuse for it. Right from not enough ink in the pen to not the "appropriate" time.

I don't know why we put things off, but if I had to guess, I'd have to say it has a lot to do with fear. Fear of failure, fear of rejection, sometimes the fear is just of making a decision, because what if you're wrong? What if you're making a mistake you can't undo?
The early bird catches the worm. A stitch in time saves nine. He who hesitates is lost. We can't pretend we hadn't been told these. We've all heard the proverbs, heard the philosophers, heard our grandparents warning us about wasted time, heard the damn poets urging us to seize the day.

Having said that, still sometimes we have to see for ourselves. We have to make our own mistakes. We have to learn our own lessons. We have to sweep today's possibility under tomorrow's rug until we can't anymore. Until we finally understand for ourselves what Benjamin Franklin really meant. That knowing is better than wondering, that waking is better than sleeping, and even the biggest failure, even the worst, beat the hell out of never trying.

2 comments:

Neha said...

Very true & Well expressed!
Its a subject to which most of us can connect .

Putting things off to the last minute almost alwys reduces ur ability to perform at ur best,One should replace the "I should" to "I will"

WITH APOLOGIES TO NIKE ;-p, "JUST DO IT" is the most appropriate response to the myriad of excuses we all use when we procrastinate;)

Raghu said...

Its all about the opportunity...never lose it when it comes only to regret later.Biggest fuss is how can one realize the one in front of you is that if once missed will never be back!!!!