Learn spanish. Many kids at work think I am fluent because they have spoken in front of me and I will interrupt and/or respond to them in English... and I let them think that so they don't sit around and talk about inappropriate stuff in a foreign language around me. While in high school Mr. Hubbard forced me to learn latin root words (at the time I would pretend squish his wide head between my thumb & pointer finger from the back of class. Since the close of my 10th grade year, I have thanked him silently almost daily- especially days when I play Trivial Pursuit). Point being: there is no reason for me to not apply myself and learn Spanish. When I do end up doing it, it will be pretty easy. But I don't.
Become famous. Yes, probably the most absurd thing you will read all day... but aren't famous people absurd? Anyway, all it would take is two, maybe three weeks of really trying to and I am sure I could be... at least D List famous. But I don't.
And the list goes on and on and on- most other things are pretty boring. And that, readers, is exactly why I don't bother. They are boring. People do things all the time for the sake of productivity. To be doing something. Don't get me wrong; I do all sorts of stuff that other people deem to be time-wasting (like blogging). I don't have excuses for why I don't do certain things; why I don't learn spanish, why my room isn't clean, why I haven't fixed my car wheel well yet. But I can most certainly defend every single thing I do end up spending my time on. Turns out, I get along more than fine with out the espanol, my room might not ever be clean, and my car may stay duct-taped together for a few more months. If I ever get bored enough to fix that stuff, I will... in the mean time I will be doing other stuff. There is value in all things if you recognize and are grateful for those things. There is even value in lounging about. Value in thinking, creating, breathing. We have been given a gift- of eternity.
The thought of anti-productivity makes many people cringe. But, it is the very thing that makes America so successful. Getting the most out of the least. So this week, go ahead and calm down.
