23 March 2009

order


Take care of order and order will take care of you. - St. Augustine


it is high time to reorganize how i run things, looking at how i've spent my days in laxity here in the province. i'm losing focus. my priorities are all cluttered, not knowing which is to be given much importance. i thought it would be much easier in the absence of a corporate boss, but the burden is heavier than before.all i have now is myself to drag to work. sure, i have my goals, but how to put them in the right place is, as i see it, a very difficult thing to do.
when i reflect, i read what i find relevant to the current topic. the readings serve as a guide to widen my considerations regarding the matter.for this i've read joseph l. soria's booklet entitled 'order'. here's an excerpt from the reading which i found really helpful:

"Let's look at two rather frequent attitudes towards the availability and use of time:
a) that of thinking we don't have enough time to do all that we have to do, and
b) that of thinking we have more than enough time.
The first arises when we do have a good appreciation of time, but don't know how to use it in an orderly way. The second is when--because of a different kind of disorder, or idleness -- we forget that time is a gift and that it is a limited good.

I don't have enough time

Many if not most cases of lack of time are really lacks of order: either we don't know how to organize ourselves well, or we are trying to do more things than we can and should do, and this is also a disorder. If we don't have enough time, it may be that we are not attacking our jobs in the order of their importance, or that the same kind of disorder is leading us to use more time than is necessary.

Do I have more time than I need?

Unfortunately, our most common mistake is to forget that time is limited and to fail to properly evaluate the quantity and quality of things that we have to do in this space of time...if time were only gold, you could perhaps afford to squander it. But time is life, and you don't know how much you have left.
A hardworking person makes good use of time , for time is not only money, it is glory! He does as he ought and concentrates on what he is doing, not out of routine nor to while away the passing hours, but as the result of attentive and pondered reflection. This is what makes man diligent.
Our everyday usage of this word 'diligent' already gives us some idea of its Latin origin. 'Diligent' comes from the verb 'diligere', which means to love, to appreciate, to choose something after careful consideration and attention. The diligent man does not rush into things. He does his work thoughtfully and lovingly.

Conclusion

We shouldn't feel discouraged, if at some moment -- perhaps after reading these pages-- we become especially conscious of the disorder in our lives. Little by little, with patience and discipline, we can set about acquiring the habits that provide the framework of order that we need."

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