For me (and I'm sure it's not just me) one source of frustration is the lack of time to do all the things I'd like to do.
Off the top of my head:
1. Read more books
2. Learn Chinese and a bit of Japanese, Spanish and French too
They say that, when you learn a foreign language, you acquire a second head, in the sense that people think differently in different languages. I think there's some truth in that. English-speaking Marco is a bit different from Italian-speaking Marco. (They're both pervs, though.) I'd love to find out what Chinese-speaking Marco is like. (Most likely also a perv.)
3. Exercise
I used to be quite fit in my twenties. Now I have to catch my breath every time I go upstairs.
4. Pick up a bloody pencil once in a while
Of course we all have busy lives, so I suppose the sensible thing would be to just focus on one or two things. But then you hear stories about those people who, apart from having a family and a full-time job, in the course of a year they train for the marathon, sail across the Atlantic, write a couple of books, get a PhD, learn Swahili, become a black belt in aikido, and get a pilot licence. (Alright, I might be exaggerating a bit, but you get my point.)
Are these people super-human? Are they the next stage in human evolution? Are we to them what the neanderthals were to homo sapiens? Although apparently the neanderthals were nowhere near as dumb as we used to think. Quite the contrary. (I love the fact that it turned out that we all have a bit of neanderthal DNA in us, about 2%, due to some inter-breeding. Typical homo sapiens. Will shag absolutely anything.)
When you hear what these super-achievers have to say, you find out that their secret is not a secret at all but a very simple, sensible, pragmatic and rather obvious modus operandi: they make the most of every tiny little scrap of spare time that they have, even if it's literally just a minute or two. Let me give you an example.
There was this guy who was the chief editor of Marvel comics in Italy. Apart from having a busy job while working on his PhD at the same time, he had an encyclopedic knowledge of Marvel comics. He had read (and continued to read) literally hundreds and hundreds of comic-books. When asked how he did it, he said that, for example, if he was in his car and the traffic light was red, he would open a comic and read a tiny bit, even if just half a page. (He was clearly a brave man. In Italy, if you don't react to the green light with supersonic speed you're just asking for trouble.)
All of that is exactly the opposite of what I used to do. In the past, unless I knew I had a good solid hour of free time, then I wouldn't bother. Big mistake. However, I must admit that the idea of utilizing all of your spare time in a productive way is a bit daunting. I mean, you gotta chill out sometimes, right? Luckily, for all the lazy-ass bastards like me out there, there's a Chinese proverb I once came across that can help:
不怕慢, 就怕站
bù pà màn, jiù pà zhàn
It can be translated as Don't be afraid of going slow, just be afraid of standing still, and it basically means that a little bit of progress is still better than no progress at all. (That proverb sort of ties in with an old saying which the Roman writer Pliny the Elder attributes to the Greek artist Apelles: nulla dies sine linea, not a day without a line, which is not the official motto of the National Association of Cocaine Lovers, but it simply means that you should draw a little bit every day, even if just one line.)
Also, and you probably know this already, according to the latest research on how the brain works, it's been proven that, given the choice, you learn more by doing something for five minutes every day rather than half an hour once a week, even though the total amount of time is the same. (Of course half an hour every day would be even better, obviously. Duh!)
I must warn you that I showed that Chinese proverb to my wife and she's never heard of it. Which means that either that proverb is some made-up bull, or that she is not Taiwanese and she's an impostor. Maybe she's a North Korean spy. Which to be honest wouldn't bother me at all. As long as it doesn't turn out that she used to be a dude, then I'm fine. And if it does turn out that she used to be a dude, then kudos to the surgeon because I would never have guessed.
Anyway, in conclusion, next time you have a spare minute and you think there's not really much point in reading just a few lines of your new book, or doing just a few of push-ups, or quickly practicing that new guitar chord you've just learned, well, think again. It's all worth it. (Unless you're thinking of dropping to your knees to recite a quick Hail Mary. That would be a waste of time.)
