To receive something new

Those of us who cannot do the necessary things or don't find time for them—if we reflect honestly for a moment, if we question our own hearts... when it was time to do those necessary tasks, did we keep them in mind? Did we dedicate time to those essential duties? The answer would be: no. Rather, we were busy with those tasks we are accustomed to, tasks we have done for ages, tasks that bring us pleasure, tasks that help us procrastinate, and tasks that require no extra strain on the brain. Isn't that so?

The more you push away the necessary tasks from your daily life, the more you will suffer. When your final moment arrives, when you must complete those tasks—or else you won't reach a certain goal, accomplish something significant, or sit for an examination—immense pressure will build within you. Out of desperation, you will create countless excuses to save yourself. You'll say: I didn't get time, I never get time, I'm always running late, time just slips away from me, and so on and so forth!

Therefore, in your daily existence, you must observe very carefully: what you are doing—how much is it truly necessary for reaching your goal! Once you reach a goal, many things become possible that might be done for pleasure. But when you are on the journey toward that goal, when you are on a certain path, that journey itself is a great prayer or worship. There you must do many things that you don't enjoy doing, but those tasks are what you need to do.

The person who does timely work on time, and during the preparation phase for reaching their goal, can refrain from unnecessary tasks in their life—giving time to wrong people, chatting endlessly with friends, watching movies, facebooking, wandering around needlessly, spending hours and hours with their beloved, and so on and so forth—that person never experiences the feeling that... I have no time, I'm running late, I couldn't prepare enough, I have no time left now... the exam is approaching, the time to reach my goal is coming... but I have absolutely no time! They don't experience these things or have to face such situations.

Imagine one person... when this person was enjoying themselves, wasting time, living it up in their own way, another person was preparing themselves and organizing their necessary tasks. Therefore, when the examination approaches or the time to reach the goal arrives, the second person will remain as joyful, as carefree, as peaceful, as confident as possible—but the first person will never be able to remain so.

And there is no injustice here. The Creator is surely just. Whatever is happening here, the first person deserves it all. The first person certainly cannot remain as carefree as the second person. This is only natural. That's why we feel we have no time, we're running late—this happens only when we waste time, when we keep doing what we've always been doing. Remember, if you keep doing what you're doing, you will never be able to do what you want to do.

The phrase "want to do" contains all the answers. You want to do it—this means the task ahead is something you haven't been able to do yet or aren't doing now. So to do it, you must make decisions you've never made, form habits you never had. And along with that, you must certainly abandon some of your old habits.

Everyone's day has twenty-four hours. So from those twenty-four hours, you must extract the time you need. Time will never bend to your rules. You must bind yourself to time's rhythm. If you can do these things with a little care, with understanding, then you'll see that such regrets, such complaints, such pain, such grievances will never arise within you. To bring life under your own control—there is no greater wealth than this discipline.