Waves

Long, long ago, when there were no planes, trains or cars, a man, from the heartland of our country, came to the seashore on a pilgrimage. To come here and take a dip in the sea had been his childhood dream, but now that he was here, he was somewhat apprehensive. He had never seen such a vast body of water, and the truth was that the he was scared of the waves that kept rolling in one after the other.

"Let the waves die down first, then I will take my bath," he thought "no point taking unnecessary risks."

And he waited patiently on the seashore for the sea to calm down and become as placid as a mountain lake.

And he waited. And waited. And waited. And waited.......

Well, you get the general drift. He never took that dip.

Life is also like that. Urgent issues and problems keep coming at us like waves, one after the other. No sooner have we sorted out an issue, and then another one follows closely at its heels. So we keep attending to them in sequence.

And we keep postponing some of the important things, which we know at the back of our minds that we must absolutely do. Finish off that book that we bought at the airport and read only two pages. Write to that old loving aunt convalescing in the hospital since last month. Read that great magazine, which has tons of stuff relevant to our profession.

We always keep telling ourselves, that we will take these up as soon as the urgent issues, the rolling waves of problems, calm down once for and all.

They never do. And before we realise, opportunities have been missed, crucial time has been wasted, and events have left us far, far behind.

You will need to take that dip among the waves. To succeed you will need to brave those waves.

So next time even if you have deadline to meet, please find some time to complete that book, send that aunt a "Get well soon" card, and go through that great journal.

Do them because they are important, though they may not be urgent.

Urgent things are for today. Important things are for a better tomorrow.

Manage your today by all means, but do find some time to invest in your tomorrow also.