Not Now, Postpone!

Alexander the great was ambitious. Unlike those who postpone greatness, he went knocking on the door himself. He conquered the known world at an age when most of us were trying to figure out which company we should work for. At 20, he was coronated as the King of Macedonia. At 22, he defeated King Darius III of Persia. At 25, he founded Alexandria, and by the age of 30, he had reached India's borders and defeated King Porus. At 32, he was DEAD!

 

Despite what the many self-help books suggest, the lesson is simple enough for even a resident of Hall 3, IIT Kanpur, to understand. You don't have to be in a hurry to achieve anything good. Evolutionary Biology and medical advances have been kind to our species. Not making use of them would be an insult to the many pioneers of the field and God. 

 

We should use the extended life span granted to us and postpone our tasks. Rather than doing things immediately, we must rest and rejuvenate ourselves. Research suggests that "sleep helps students learn, memorize, retain, recall, and use their new knowledge to develop creative and innovative solutions." The opportunity cost of doing a task and not sleeping is clearly high and not worth incurring. 

 

 

Fig: Because UPSC preparation taught me to insert diagrams

 

I remember my college days. I was trying to study for the end-semester examination of this particularly tough subject. I couldn't concentrate because of the lack of sleep owing to a late-night party. Hence, I decided to nap to study better when I woke up. It's a different matter altogether that I woke up directly to take the exam in the morning. But had I studied after sleeping, I would have been more productive with books.

 

Moreover, it may happen that after some time, you realize you didn't want to do the work in the first place. This happens because we are able to evaluate the work exhaustively in the time we save due to postponement. As anyone working in a formal organization would tell you, exhaustive evaluation of a piece of work always leads to the unearthing of thousands of associated negative externalities, eventually leading to its cancellation. 

 

When we rush to do something, we fail to examine it diligently. The urge to receive short-term adrenaline due to finishing off something leads to turning a blind eye to all the corners which are cut in the process. This rush has led to many bloody disasters. It's better to learn of all the effects; if the conclusion is to avoid doing it, that's acceptable. 

 

No one knows it better than my friend Sohit. He wanted to build an event management company while in college but postponed it and later realized it wasn't a conducive industry to get into. It would have required him to deal with many stakeholders - the clients, the vendors, and his family. So he stayed away from setting up his company. Now, he is following his dream of selling ULIPs to unsuspecting customers. 

 

Postponement also becomes the natural choice due to our limitations in comprehension. Some things are complicated. They require time to understand and become familiar with. Experience brings wisdom, the ability to put things in a larger context. To get that experience, one needs to spend a lifetime learning the nitty gritty and observing. Instead, many people actually end up doing it, thereby making countless mistakes that lead to their doom. 

Look at Salman Khan. He kept postponing acting, and spent his time observing actors around him. Consequently, he didn't make any mistakes with his movies and has shit loads of blockbusters under his belt.

 

The Indian cricket fans are another example. Most of us postponed our cricket practice, and the gully matches. We refused to pick our bats and balls. Instead, we sat in front of our televisions and consumed whatever cricket we could find. Now we are able to scrutinize these international players better. We criticize Rohit for not being good at switch hits, Shreyas Iyer for poor pull shots, and Ishant Sharma for being a complete tool with the bat. This armchair expertise doesn't come to those who actually do stuff and do not postpone. 

 

The question is how to stop the primal urge to take up tasks and finish them in time without postponement? It's pretty simple. Remind yourself that doing something takes effort and skills. You will have to work really hard to excel. Instead, you could just order a pizza and binge-watch something. The urge to do something at the moment would die a slow, painless death. I can personally vouch for this method.

 

Else, Go to social media and argue about politics or Indian cricket team selection. By the time you'd finish responding to every comment thrashing your opinion, time would have flown past you, with even Aamir Khan releasing a movie. The postponement would happen automatically. You won't have to waste time trying to do something you'd not have wanted to do later on, with the added bonus of getting to know @ViRatRockzz's very informative views on the Indian cricket team. 

 

Whenever you feel the urge to take initiative, remind yourself that you are just another brick in the wall. Anything you do would rarely have substantial effects on the fate of lives of 8 billion people on a small junk in the big solar system out of millions in the universe.

 

Stop doing things when they need to be done. Postpone freely! Take time out for yourself, and be the rebel with a cause. It can only do you good. 

 

 

Note: This post is just a poor parody of an average chapter out of the everyday self help books.