All the worries of my days in university so far have all been fixated around time. There’s so much time spent on things like commuting, breaks that are too long but not long enough between classes, time spent on recovering energy from commuting too long (which by the way doesn’t make any but I still do it.) And the procrastination. Oh my all the procrastination. By the time the weekend comes along I still don’t feel like I have enough time and then the weekend passes like it never even came.
Yesterday Robert Herjavec, one of the Dragon’s from CBC’s The Dragon’s Den came to speak about what mostly seemed like inspiration. He told us a story about a time when Arnold Schwarzenegger went to speak at a university and a student was upset about the tuition increase proposals. The student said that a tuition increase would mean that he would have to get a job. Arnold said so what? The student then argues that getting a job means less time to study, and he’ll do bad in school and he won’t have any sleep (I bet that sounds familiar). Arnold asks him how many hours he needs to sleep. Boy replies 8. Arnold says 6 is enough. Boy says 6 is not enough for him. Arnold says “sleep faster.”
Were you waiting for something deeper?
Herjavec’s presentation was indeed deep, that was just something he said that I really wanted to share.
Anyway, the majority of the presentation was about achieving success. He said that if you’re poor, or if you’re ugly, or if you’re just stuck with some bad dispositions, of course it’s going to be harder for you. And then the next point he made stuck with me so much, the only equal playing field we have is the fact that we all have the same amount of time.
Think about someone you admire, or someone you envy. What are they doing with their time that you aren’t? Why aren’t you?
That is so easy to say but it’s not like I’m satisfied with every action I make. But I’m working on it, maybe it’s all a part of growing up. (…Am I going to be 30 years old some day and still being saying stuff like “it’s a part of growing up?”)
I don’t get it. Doesn’t he Schwarzenegger example prove that some people do have more time than others? What I got from that example was that Schwarzenegger expected someone to sleep less simply because he/she was poorer.
I get your overall point though.
Where did Robert speak yesterday?
Also, can you please define “fair”?
No, his example shows that anyone can suck it up and “sleep faster” (meaning, less) so they have more time to do productive things.
“Fair?” Check the dictionary
@Tyler: He was at the Henry Angus Building.
“Fair” as in everyone gets the same 24 hours. Time doesn’t discriminate who gets more hours in a day… but I suppose one can look at it and say it’s not fair since some people have a longer lifespans. Actually perhaps it’s not fair at all in that sense.
I think Herjavec was basically trying to say that someone who is born into bad circumstances still has just as many hours in a day as everyone else. However, people don’t always make the best use of their time, so make the most of your time and make it your advantage. (Even though technically it isn’t an advantage as everyone has the same amount, but just use it more wisely.)