Modern Buzzwords and Creativity

When my kids question my authority, I find it irksome at that instant. However when I think about it later, it makes me smile. I smile because I think about how so many of the “facts” that are told us repeatedly is not necessarily always true! Proverbs were bandied about when we were young … “A stitch in time saves nine”, “Early to bed and early to rise makes you healthy, wealthy and wise”, “All work and no play makes Jack a very dull boy”, “Cleanliness is next to Godliness” etc. Times have changed but we essentially hear much the same. Now we hear buzzwords like procrastination, organization, time-management etc. I realize the wisdom of the sayings and I guess it applies to most people most of the time. However I can’t help but think that it does not work all the time.

It works to a T if you are an unimaginative administrator – it applies to anyone including parents. I have on occasion found that waiting and acting later would have indeed been better than acting first. One can’t possibly go to bed early if you like working late or have to work the second or third shift while some find work so satisfying that they don’t feel the need to want to do anything else. After reminding my son umpteen times to go take a shower, I tell myself it is okay to skip a shower once in a while especially in winter.

I hear people saying with great pride about how they get up at an ungodly hour of 4:00AM in the morning, exercise, eat on time, have a spick and span house, are organized and I start wondering what they have achieved by having such great physical discipline? Perhaps added a few more years to what seems to me a very dull and boring life?

I wonder this concept of time-management etc, does it apply to the creative mind? When I hear the melodic music of Vivaldi or see a picture of an amazing sculpture by Michael Angelo, or wonder about however J.K. Rowling came up with Quidditch or try to figure how the Google search engine works, I wonder did these great minds worry about time-management or eating on time or getting exercise when their creative juices were flowing? They probably worked all the time forgetting to eat or even sleep …

In defense of procrastination, don’t we all sometimes do our best work when we are under pressure? I strongly wish our President had procrastinated before he went to war against Saddam Hussein. Need I say more?