PROCRASTINATION · A 700-YEAR-OLD ANSWER FROM JAPAN
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Written by Kenkō, a Japanese monk who spent his life thinking about time, death and delay.
Find your idea (1 minute)- しばしShibashi
- ただ今の一念Tada ima no ichinen
- 寸陰Sun’in
Does this sound familiar?
- You’ll start as soon as this other thing is done.
- You keep waiting for a calmer week.
- You tell yourself you can always try again tomorrow.
- You look up, and the afternoon is gone.
Most advice on procrastination is about method: break the task into pieces, set a timer, be kind to yourself. All of this is sensible. This book looks at a different part of the problem: the quiet belief that there will always be a later time.
Kenkō wrote about it 700 years ago. He did not say you are lazy. He asked:
命は人を待つものかは。
Does life wait for people?
Tsurezuregusa, section 59, about 1330