I refer to things like your dilemma over making music as the "bottled water fallacy."
I don't usually buy water, I usually carry a water bottle and fill it from fountains or sinks. But every once in a while, I am caught out without a drink and need to buy one, and what I really feel like drinking is water. I have, however, a heartfelt belief that paying for water, at least in regions of the world which have safe and tasty tap water, is stupid.
But since I can't access our safe and tasty tap water at that moment, and I must buy a drink, I have two choices: I can feel stupid buy paying for water, or I can actually act even stupider, by paying the same amount of money for something I want considerably less than I want the water, just in order not to pay for water.
You're in a bit the same position with your time. You're gonna be spending time. At any given moment, you may well know with relative certainty that, even if you ought to be spending that moment working on stuff which urgently needs to get done, you aren't likely to make that happen. In that case, what is better to spend the time one... the music you really want, or something you want less and which will still not get anything useful done anyway??
If you are able to make yourself apply seat of pants to chair (or car seat, or wherever else it needs to be) and Get Those Things Done, then I say skip the music for the time being and go for it. (This applies to any time being during which you are able to make yourself do it.) But if you're not going to do the stuff which needs doing, and so you're about to "waste time" (a phrase I hate; I don't believe time is ever wasted) by doing something useless in practical terms, does it make sense to spend the wasted time on something you like and want to do, or something you don't like and don't want to do?
Or, should I buy a soda I won't even enjoy, in order not to spend my money on water, or should I buy the water I really want even if it feels all wrong to spend money on it?
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Date: 2010-09-28 03:32 pm (UTC)I don't usually buy water, I usually carry a water bottle and fill it from fountains or sinks. But every once in a while, I am caught out without a drink and need to buy one, and what I really feel like drinking is water. I have, however, a heartfelt belief that paying for water, at least in regions of the world which have safe and tasty tap water, is stupid.
But since I can't access our safe and tasty tap water at that moment, and I must buy a drink, I have two choices: I can feel stupid buy paying for water, or I can actually act even stupider, by paying the same amount of money for something I want considerably less than I want the water, just in order not to pay for water.
You're in a bit the same position with your time. You're gonna be spending time. At any given moment, you may well know with relative certainty that, even if you ought to be spending that moment working on stuff which urgently needs to get done, you aren't likely to make that happen. In that case, what is better to spend the time one... the music you really want, or something you want less and which will still not get anything useful done anyway??
If you are able to make yourself apply seat of pants to chair (or car seat, or wherever else it needs to be) and Get Those Things Done, then I say skip the music for the time being and go for it. (This applies to any time being during which you are able to make yourself do it.) But if you're not going to do the stuff which needs doing, and so you're about to "waste time" (a phrase I hate; I don't believe time is ever wasted) by doing something useless in practical terms, does it make sense to spend the wasted time on something you like and want to do, or something you don't like and don't want to do?
Or, should I buy a soda I won't even enjoy, in order not to spend my money on water, or should I buy the water I really want even if it feels all wrong to spend money on it?
Usually, I buy the water, in such conditions.