Race against Time
Shreya Kabir
When I was in my graduation, my mother used to nag me every now and then that, “why don’t you join a coaching? I am not asking you to appear this year or the next year, but atleast start reading, as you’ll take time to build your knowledge.”
Two years down the lane, I know that still there is a lot of time, but I sometimes think to myself that, I should’ve considered my mother’s nag/advice. Finally the quote ringing in my ears since childhood, ‘time and tide wait for none’, made sense!
Time passes my friends and regrets follow!
I didn’t realize at that time that, the earlier I start building my base the better it will be for me. I didn’t realize that, more time gives me the liberty to delve deeper into the topics which is very much required for my satisfaction. I didn’t realize that, a day spent productively will have compounded rewards in future than just lazing around aimlessly in the name of ‘my time to plunge into preparation will come!’
The point here is not to scare you, but to let you know that time is the most valuable asset that we have. You know that already, but most of us seem to forget it as life catches up!
Today you might be thinking that, oh! I wish I could’ve started my preparation earlier so that I could’ve covered so much more or I could’ve bought more time to practise answer-writing! This is absolutely true that everyone has their own time to start with their preparation, but, such is the relation between decision-making and time elapsed.
You cannot definitely haste in your preparation, but neither can you take time for granted. One must keep this in mind that, even if one has 5 years to prepare, they will pass like 1,2,3,4..5 GONE! Your loooong years of preparation just expired and now you are left with no more time. This is why, you must keep a parallel thought in your mind that with each passing day, one days gets strike off from your ‘days to prepare, days to work hard, days to make you career’!
If you live each day as it were your last, someday you’ll most certainly be right – Steve Jobs
Why do you think Steve Jobs would’ve lived by this quote as the mantra of his life? Because, he understood the gravity of the situation, when one day you’ll realize that you have no more time left to do all the things that you’ve always wanted to, all that you’ve ever wanted to achieve.
It is the attitude of ‘abhi to time hai’, that lay in you seeds of procrastination, stops you from giving your 100 percent when you sit for you preparation! It makes you watch the epic GOT episodes back-to-back-to-back! It makes you pile things up for that tomorrow which doesn’t come! It makes you get loose in your revisions which you badly regret when you hazily know the correct answer and end up being confused!
And then, there are opportunity costs involved in every decision you make subject to time. If you properly utilize the given time, maybe you wouldn’t have to slog your preparation for another year and you can do zillion other things that you missed in that year! You can get an answer to whether you should continue in this game or not and start working in some other avenues without wasting any further time! Trust me, nothing pierces the heart like the opportunity costs.
However preachy you may find this, but open your eyes to the limited time you have for this preparation, for this life. You needn’t pressurize yourself with the constraints of time. There is nothing wrong in chilling a bit every now and then. I do it, so do you and so does everybody, but it is important to develop a sense of urgency for things. Direct your time! Decide what you are gonna do in the time you have and not let it not be the other way round.
I’ve regretted not doing many things since my childhood (and I’m sure many of you too do), of which no matter how much I try to compensate; I cannot make time for it now! That is why I hope that you will acknowledge the time you have in your pocket and spend it judiciously in the most productive way you can. Be the charioteer in your life and tame the ever-so-swift horse called ‘time’!
“The timeless in you is aware of life’s timelessness. And knows that yesterday is but today’s memory and tomorrow is today’s dream.”
― Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet
