Let me start with an anecdote, trivial yet one which brings home an important message. Yesterday was one of those days during with I get a rush of enthu to cook. So, immediately after work, I (almost) threw my bag and started hustling towards the kitchen. Opening the small almirahs where i keep my groceries, one by one to find something exciting to start me off. One after the other the ideas went by let's cook A or B or C. Finally I ended up with D, preparing something which I had no clue I would be making. It was delicious nevertheless. But I am not here to brag about my culinary skills. Had I taken a few minutes to think through what I can cook with the stuff I had and the energy, time i can put in, atleast I would have made waguely known the end. On the contrary, the way in which I went about brought maximum satisfaction to me and I couldnt care less what exactly the end result would be, for that matter.
This emphasises my natural disposition to be instinctive. A few close friends made attempts to mention it to me. To be more planned, organised and with probably an end in mind. For some, planning comes quite naturally. Infact some get horny by the idea of making a list with pen and a paper [you need not forgive my language here ;) ]. I am certainly not one of them. It doesnt mean that i hate making plans. The point is: neither way is universally correct. It depends on what one defines the word 'result' . For example take the example of a tour to NewYork. In front of the Niagara falls, savouring every second of the spectacle is what we want. And in the same tour making sure that we have seen as many places as possible in NY is another result. A 'master' is one who can shift between each mindset adeptly, to suit the situation. 'He' is my end-result, now I have to figure out how to go about doing that :P !!!

It is sometimes so overwhelming that we can do so many things when we have free time, that we fail to make a start with one of them. What is the result of it? we keep doing things without any real purpose. Something like logging into your mailbox again and again inspite of knowing that there are no new mails. These are things that just come out of habit, involuntarily. That is where it becomes a real danger. Whiling away time with these purpose-less habits is the worst killer of your time. There are other things that kill time - reading some random person's profile or a blog or whatever. But these are slightly better than the ones previously mentioned.

We must be conscious of what we are doing with our time, because the worst thing is to do something which either does not have any result. Now again, the older people tell me - don't look at short term gains, develop the ability to see from a long term perspective. This is one shortcoming of working in a company which develops you and expects that you will stay there till retirement. The restless energitic I am, it concerns me quite a bit when people say 'wait'. 1. Perhaps I have to change my perspective, 2. perhaps they have to understand that what guys like me want is immediate gains. But, after reading the book Mastery by George Leonard, I am more tempted to chose the 2nd option.

Now this brings me to the reason I am writing this note, reading books changes perspectives. That is definitely one way how people have grown, mentally. Other means might be meeting new people, learning new things from friends, doing new things and the likes. It always helps to be open to what others think be it an author, a friend, parent or anyone. Movies ofcourse are one of the faster ways of delivering strong messages. The charactar forrest gump made an impression on many.

The fact that I am writing this post is because I am liking what i am doing. Keep yourself busy by doing what you like. Ofcourse have an idea of where you want to go in the 'longer term'. This is analogous to- driving to somewhere you havent been before, you are consciouse of the direction you want to go, but you surely want to enjoy the ride while you are at it.