TIME TO GET THINGS DONE

There are, on the other hand, those who have experienced this attitude as an excuse rather than a reason, tame, hollow-sounding, unconvincing even when uttered by the most familiar voice - you own, for example: there are those who see such expressions as the result of faulty reasoning, a trap one falls into because one can't be bothered to think clearly.

In his book "Friday", Adrian Mitchell draws a sharp contrast between Robinson Crusoe, frenetic, desperate to get things done, and Friday, content to take each day as it comes, reaching out for a banana when he's hungry, having no need to provide warmth or shelter for his body. The idea is not new even in Western civilisation, but is written into its philosophical Constitution, in the biblical recommendation to consider the field-lilies, those who devote none of their energies to toiling, nor to spinning, nor to wondering what to wear or what to have for lunch.

But turning aside from these Mediterranean and South Pacific types for the moment, let's assume you live in a climate where you die of pneumonia if you don't do something to keep yourself warm and dry: and that you starve to death if you don't do something to supply yourself with a store of food; and let's assume that you're not content simply to live, but that you feel the need for others to notice that you're living, in short, that you want to achieve something.

So you're in the situation, normal in Western civilisation, where you need time in which to get things done. You're then liable to fall into the trap I spoke of, of thinking that the time you have isn't enough: and the only way out of that trap is to be ruthlessly systematic and logical about the way you think.