Now or Later ??

Aquarians they say worry a lot about world and the ways of life .. or to say in better terms about philosophical things in life. Born in the middle of Aquarius i apparently worry a tad more than my fellow aquarians ! (Wondering how all this is connected ... read on ! )

We recently learnt in our Business strategy that a company should have a short and precise but absolutely clear mission or vision statement which will help all the employees decide whenever in a dilemma. I thought why not have one for life itself and stumbled upon the one below:
There are 3 kinds of people:

1. Those who live too much in the Future
2. Those who live too much in pesent
3. Rare few who balance both
   

Future guys:
They tend to overslog .. whether it be studies or whether it be in an organisation and are very driven by motives and long term goals and objectives . They end up ignoring the present i.e their families, friends, and miss out on opportunities to enjoy life. They assume that they are havign fun while working .. but at some point there comes a breaking point and they decide ... " I Can't take it anymore .. i should have taken it easier" . By then either they are past their prime ... or their lives to broken to be mended !

This reminds me of a story about a Soldier: The emperor granted a boon to a soldier who fought valiantly in a war. The boon was that the soldier can become the ruler of as much land he can cover on his horse. He bagan riding tirelessly in the greed to cover as much as he could. Suddenly one day he realised that he had crossed his nineties and that he had not even enjoyed a part of what he earned! This shows that sometimes being so driven by ambition .. we lose sight of the present !

Right here Right now guys:
Some people feel that they have come into this world to have fun and enjoy !! They have a philosophy of ' Kal kisne dekha hai ! ' They enjoy every moment of life without a care about the future. But after a certain time .. the present passes and we have to step ito the future. That's when the Grasshoppers realise that they should have worked like the ants!

I see an analogy of this in the Rip Van Winkle story. The guy dozes off for 20 years in the mountains after drinking a divine ale made by the dwarfs. He wakes up and tries to find his family and town. Alas .. everything had changed. His wife had passed away .. his kids and friends don't recognise him.

His sleeping can be taken as an analogy to the guy who does what he wants and enjoys his life. Because he lost contact with his world and "wakes up" only after everything is gone ! ( I wonder if its only me who sees this meaning in this old fable)

The Balancers:
Thought rare .. but i have seen few people who can balance the act of Present vs Future ! The observations is that they seemed more contented than the other 2 kinds. They lived in a sense of harmony with their own selves. I would like to believe that i am one of them.

However these can also tend to be phases in life rather than types of personalities. For eg: when you are young and reckless .. one can afford to be the first type ... or rather has to be !

We have to invest in the future ( if we are not the ones born with a silver / platinum spoon) and slog it off now . This is also reflected in Malcolm Gladwell's latest book on "The Outliers"
One needs to out in 10,000 hours of concentrated and continous efforts to become succesful !
And ... we can also be happy n satisfied .. if we make a concious choice of what we do !

Enough gyaan for a day ! Cheers - KK