When people are left to their own devices, they are made to choose to deal with their time in a manner that is most befitting their desires. Many yearn for this kind of freedom in their lives as they damn the forced labor they go through from day to day in the name of a steady income and a decent lifestyle. However, it is not uncommon to find that those without a set amount of work, whether in an academy, in the household, or in the corporate setting find themselves restless, unable to focus without the restrictions of a controlled environment.
There are a rare few that are capable of clearly dividing their time into productive sections that allow the development of their skills and their endeavors. On the other hand, there is a huger number that fail to regulate their time efficiently.
For many, albeit their lack of consciousness regarding the matter, need work as a point of focus. Work forces them to give their full attention on a task that will ultimately lead to their profit, whether in terms of monetary compensation, skill development, or life lessons. While the environment and conditions of work differ for each one,--and indeed while some are breezing through it, some suffer it greatly-- there is a stabilizing aspect to working within a restricted environment that is grounding for most.
In fact, given the time constraints that an 8-5 job gives, we are forced to recognize the tasks and activities that we treasure most, enough so that we actively try to allocate time to do them. Given limited free time, we feel the pressure of accomplishing them instead of continually putting them off for an unknown length of time.
I am not one of those people that can do much without pressure. I find myself producing more meaningful work during moments when I am pushed to do them during the window of time between my job and rest. This is a little unsettling for me because like others, I dream of a hassle free lifetime of lounging and working whenever I feel like it. However, as time goes by, I begin to acknowledge this fact.
Without that thing running behind us, trying to bite us, it is harder to find the motivation to take the step that will lead us to our goal. Perhaps those that do not need the physical manifestation of pressure through actual work are simply those who are motivated on their own, with imagined deadlines and with their own monsters on their tails.
Any action causes a reaction. Work is a force, an action that makes us go forward. Without it, many of us find ourselves stagnant, staring at the stretch of distance before us without much attempt to cross it.
Ideally, finding a job which we love doing is the way to go to produce the best work we can make as it provides pressure, inspiration, and compensation all at the same time. However, we are not all lucky to be doing our dream jobs. In which case, simply having work or subjecting ourselves to a type of pressure is what we can do to be able to deal out produce and art.
Well, there is the third option of learning the hard art of self-motivation, but for the meanwhile, whilst we are still in the process of learning, we should remain in motion.
There is this rule during a workout that while undergoing an exercise routine, we cannot stop. Even when taking a break, we should be continually in moving to not lose any progress we‘ve made in heating up and to not feel the laziness and tiredness that come after our bodies recognize that we are finally at rest, cooling down. In this same way, we should always be in action in the process of reaching our goals in order to always keep sight of it and keep motivated over the distance we are continually making. The steps we take to development should be consistent and directed forward, regardless of what pushes us, --even when it’s something we see as grueling work.
This is not to say that we should not take vacations or take time for some self-reflection. In fact, these two are like those breaks in an exercise routine I mentioned where we rest without ceasing motion. For one, a vacation is something we acknowledge as temporary. It is also taking time to recoup energy and motivation while at the same time considered as a reward for a job well done. It is not completely stopping but more of an enjoyment of scenery, like taking the time to look outside a moving car to marvel at the beauty the journey offers. You can’t take a vacation when there is nothing to take a vacation from. It is one of the perks of work.
Self-reflection, meanwhile, is part of the process of improvement. It is taking time to bend your knees and make your leg muscles taut in preparation for that great leap.
What is important is that we do things that will, in the end, aid us in keeping in motion and reaching that goal. We need to make our lives’ pieces all part of the collage that would make that masterpiece we are aiming for.
