Do not wait for tomorrow what you can do for today, says a popular phrase. All people sees mañana habit as a baaad habit as mostly observed in Filipinos, but I wonder, is it the whole truth? or is there a bright side of it? My reason for sharing this is that I, too, developed this attitude. Here is what I think as ‘the bright side’ about the so called mañana ‘mamaya na’ habit.
Do you know about mañana habit? Actually, mañana is found in the dictionary – a Spanish dictionary that is or even in wikipedia and some other sorts of free online references in the internet (whoa! The power of technology is so staggering). It means tomorrow. So literally speaking, mañana habit is tomorrow habit. Innocent and harmless-sounding, aye? And yet it has gained notoriety because of the negative connotation we put to it. You know people say that when you are fond of putting off for tomorrow what can be done today, you certainly have this disease known as mañana habit. And that, they say, is bad, really bad habit.
Well, surely, I don’t take issues with a teacher who reminds students not to wait until the deadline before working on their term papers or wait for the thirteenth hour before preparing for an exam. In fact it’s a very good thing to teach the students the value of time and time management. On another context, I believe it’s a good counsel to make peace with our enemies before they beat us to the draw in making the reconciliation move first. Even the Bible advises us not to let the sun set on our anger. In other words, let overheated emotions cool off now – not tomorrow.
I was confronted many times because of this habit I eventually developed, like I pass some of my requirements or papers days after the deadline. So with this, I asked some of my family members and friends about this one, whether mañana habit is good or purely just bad, and guess what? Unanimously – they all answered with a big BAD. Most people into whom I’ve bumped in my life in this deadline-crazy world have either told me pointblank or subtly suggested that mañana habit is a baaad habit. No more, no less.
So now I wonder if it’s the whole truth.
From my vantage point, I see a brighter side of mañana habit. I don’t know about you. But perhaps your calendar is marked with appointments and tasks-a-plenty. And you prepare long to-do lists or reminders in your mobile phones, you want to make every waking moment count and later ask yourself if you’ve had a fruitful day, and yes you are dying to make a difference in the world. I know, you know, you want to do lots of things in the short life that you’ve been given – and do them as quick as you can. If possible, all in a day, but usually I thinks it’s far from impossible.
Psychologists call this phenomenon: approach-approach conflict.
Let’s say you want to be the president of the republic of the Philippines and chief justice of the Supreme Court? Well, I guess, you can be both but not at the same time. You have to sacrifice one for the sake of the other or grab the one now and pursue the other later. Otherwise, you’ll lose both. Life is a trade off, you see.
Besides, things sometimes crop up oh so suddenly, disturbing whatever order and tipping whatever balance you’ve put in your life. And they confront and challenge you to do some rearrangement.
So? You put some things here, you put others there. You put this or that thing off for tomorrow?
So? You practice mañana habit!
So? You put off one task to give way to another more important matter more than anything else. More likely resembles Economics’ principle of opportunity cost. Doesn’t that reveal your healthy sense of priorities?
I hear some streetsmart dude say, “You will never finish your work; your work will finish you.” I guess his right. And if that is the case, you need to do first things first. That often necessitates leaving some less important things undone until tomorrow.
Mañana habit carries with it the idea of sacrifice – that is, the exchange of something secondary for something primary. Recall, need versus want. It’s a wonderful idea. It’s a matter of exchange, not loss. Most of all, I think it’s not really a case of laziness, but of setting priorities wisely straight. Some people call this as ‘taking one step backward and two steps forward’. Others call it conceding a battle to win a war.
What do you think, is it really bad or there’s something good concealed in it?
Take your pick.
Credits to: Mr. Woki Tokie
LIVE-LOVE-LAUGH-LEARN 
Very nice blog if you want Interesting Short Stories to Learn Proverbs, I'd like to share this blog also to you.
LikeLike
thanks kuya.. 🙂 I've already read some of your posts.. but some of them are not yet read.. ok. 😀
LikeLike