Everything in our life is a fight against the clock. Time runs constantly so we have to keep up. We’re in an ultimate game against time. Sometimes, however, we lose the game and time catches up to us, passes us by, and leaves us behind in the wind. Then we turn into the White Rabbit in "Alice in Wonderland," running and yelling "I'm late! I'm late!" It happens, quite often, that we are “late.” I mean, the kind of late where your paper is handed in past the due date; the kind of late where you miss the scheduled time for your meeting; the kind of late where you turn in an article passed the day and time it was expected. Right before your eyes your opportunity slips away, never to be returned. Being late sucks, and almost always it could’ve been avoided . . . that’s why it sucks.
Personally, organizational skills are not my strong suit. I usually have an idea of what I have to do and by what time and date but writing it down, keeping notes, setting alarms, they’re all processes that help keep us organized and I let my laziness skip them. I have a friend whose whole life is penned down to an agenda. Meetings, parties, classes, work...everything is there; her life becoming a series of steps that lead to success. To be able to arrange your work and responsibilities into 12 hours is an underestimated skill. It would be as valuable as giving yourself an instruction manual for your life. It looks as daunting as building one of those giant, architecturally miraculous Lego houses but it’s as easy as putting one together. Once you read the manual all you have to do is follow the steps; follow enough steps and eventually you’re done.
To quote the great Drake, whose motto’s we often take to as our own, “better late than never, but never late is better.” The intention here is not to incite an aspiration to be perfect. Time will always catch up to you. It’s quicker and stealthier than you. Most of the time it hangs around, undetected, lingering and being while we take advantage of forgetting it’s there.
Time reminds us of our faults, reminds us of our humanness, of our inability to change the things that have passed, and of our imperfections. The intention in this quote is that we keep trying; that we keep showing up. All it takes is getting your work done. If you need a little help than keep a note of it, remind yourself of how much time you have to bend or keep track of. Easier said than done, I know. Remember, though, that getting it done is all that’s keeping you from being greater, from being on time.
