Finding time within time
What frustrates me a lot about being in National Service is the perception of having free time. At dinner tables, I will talk a lot about watching a movie over the week while I was in camp, much to the dismay of my brothers who seem to have the perception that they can't do the same. "Why do you have so much time in camp?" Is the question, although 'Is the army not pushing you hard enough?' is clearly the implication.
And thus I am here today writing about ways to find free time to do what you want, even when it seems that you don't have time to do it (In hindsight this is something educational and has actual relevance to someone other than myself, something that my previous posts over the last few months have failed to have). There are time gaps between events that I will adequately call 'niches', of which is filled with a series of emotions. For example, between waiting for an exam and the exam itself, one will tend to have moments of stress, of which no productive action is done at all. Time spent stressing over something while not doing anything is called 'wasted time' and won't make our dear Sir John Lennon very happy, for you did not enjoy wasting the time that you have well... wasted. Instead, why not spend the time talking to friends, discussing topics within the exam that you might have to take? Include a social aspect - you are building relationships - while studying for an exam! And let's face it: you won't absorb anything that you read in the last few minutes before and exam, and you may very well doubt what you have read, but there is little doubt that you will forget what someone else has said, or ponder about it for such an extent that you start to warp what he or she has said to change your answer from option (a) to option (b).
But let's not only talk about exam times. There are also times when you want to take a break from studying/working. Don't turn on instagram, facebook and other forms of social media which are 'low density fun'. You spend a lot of time on those and they give you little to satisfaction after having used them at all. Instead, spend the time to watch 10 minutes of a movie (it took me 2 weeks to finish Citizen Kane like this), which includes some action packed scenes that leave you at the edge of your seats: 'high density fun'. It may not be a movie; why not a game or a page from a book? You could get a lot done then.
So just fruit for thought, why not try utilizing these niches in time? Whether you're going home on a bus, or going down the elevator to get lunch from your office, why not spend a bit of time doing something a bit more productive than stare into space? Hope this frees up a bit more time, it's a shame to see it wasted, unless you like wasting time; then Sir John Lennon would be a bit more happier.
Cheers,
Matthew Tan
And thus I am here today writing about ways to find free time to do what you want, even when it seems that you don't have time to do it (In hindsight this is something educational and has actual relevance to someone other than myself, something that my previous posts over the last few months have failed to have). There are time gaps between events that I will adequately call 'niches', of which is filled with a series of emotions. For example, between waiting for an exam and the exam itself, one will tend to have moments of stress, of which no productive action is done at all. Time spent stressing over something while not doing anything is called 'wasted time' and won't make our dear Sir John Lennon very happy, for you did not enjoy wasting the time that you have well... wasted. Instead, why not spend the time talking to friends, discussing topics within the exam that you might have to take? Include a social aspect - you are building relationships - while studying for an exam! And let's face it: you won't absorb anything that you read in the last few minutes before and exam, and you may very well doubt what you have read, but there is little doubt that you will forget what someone else has said, or ponder about it for such an extent that you start to warp what he or she has said to change your answer from option (a) to option (b).
But let's not only talk about exam times. There are also times when you want to take a break from studying/working. Don't turn on instagram, facebook and other forms of social media which are 'low density fun'. You spend a lot of time on those and they give you little to satisfaction after having used them at all. Instead, spend the time to watch 10 minutes of a movie (it took me 2 weeks to finish Citizen Kane like this), which includes some action packed scenes that leave you at the edge of your seats: 'high density fun'. It may not be a movie; why not a game or a page from a book? You could get a lot done then.
So just fruit for thought, why not try utilizing these niches in time? Whether you're going home on a bus, or going down the elevator to get lunch from your office, why not spend a bit of time doing something a bit more productive than stare into space? Hope this frees up a bit more time, it's a shame to see it wasted, unless you like wasting time; then Sir John Lennon would be a bit more happier.
Cheers,
Matthew Tan
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