A stitch in time saves nine
Time is a unique recourse.
Day to day everyone has the same amount. It can’t be accumulated. You can’t
turn it on or off. It can’t be replaced. It has to be spent at the rate of
sixty seconds every minute.
Time management –like the
management of other recourses- benefits from analysis and planning. To
understand and apply time management principles, you must know not only how you
use time, but also what problems you encounter in using it wisely and causes
them. From this knowledge, you can improve your effectiveness and efficiency
through better time management.
Have you ever heard one of
your grandparents say “A stitch in time saves none”? That means, time is the
coin of your life, it is the only coin you have, only you can determine how it
will be spent.
“A stitch in time saves nine” is an idiom,
which is intended meaning is different from the literal meaning of the words
themselves.
People use a “a stitch in
times saves nine ”to express that it is better to spend a little and effort to
deal with a problem right now then to wait until later when it may get worse
and take longer to cope with.
Many people believe it was
started by mothers weary of mending their children’s clothing.
Someone has very rightly and
wisely said that a stitch in time saves nine. It contains an important piece of
sane advice, which we constantly hear from our teachers in school and elders at
home. This highly useful, educational dictate applies to every field of
activity.
It implies that work done in
time saves a lot of labour, later on. To exemplify it further, it can be said
that suppose there is a tear in your shirt, the wisest thing is to stitch it up
without any delay, otherwise there will be tears all the way down, which would
require a lot more labour and time to put a patch on it. And the final effect
too would not be as tidy as it would have been, if it had been stitched during
the initial stage.
Again, the same principle
applies as regards your lessons. If one does not study through the year and
hopes to pass examinations only by studying at the last moment, much more
effort and time will have to be put in at the eleventh hour and still the
retention would not be as effective as it would have been, if the work was done
regularly through the year.
Yet again, a delayed action
quite often causes serious misunderstanding and even loss of friendship, where
replying to letters is concerned. Certainly, letter-writing is not everyone’s
cup of tea, but certain tasks have to be done and it is the best if they are
done without losing any time
For instance, if one
postpones replying to a friend’s or a relative’s letter, the other person might
feel humiliated, thinking that one does not care for him or her enough. It
would require one to make excuses and apologize again and again to pacify the
person concerned. Is it not then better to reply to a letter in time, rather
than come out with false excuses at the last moment?
Taking the right action at an
opportunity time is even more important where friendship is concerned. A wrong
action committed knowingly or unknowingly, should be apologized for
immediately. The more an apology is delayed, the more distant will a friend
become and one may even lose the friendship forever. And this happens when one
delays making timely amends.
And do not forget that
postponement of an action can prove really risky and hazardous, where health is
concerned. A neglected cold and running nose may turn into sinusitis and a
severe cough problem
An unattended boil may turn
into a carbuncle which may require prolonged and costly treatment with
antibiotics afterwards. May be, it may force you to remain in bed for days
together, making you suffer even a financial loss.
A fever, if unattended, may
weaken you and necessitate confinement in bed for a number of days. Thus, even
a minor health problem has to be attended to promptly.
Postponement of any work,
that you do not find pleasant, is also bad. Putting off things is also
unpleasant because it robs you of your peace of the mind. There is always the
nagging inner voice which keeps on reminding of the task to be done.
It leaves you restless and
churlish. And what a tremendous feeling of satisfaction and content there is,
if the job is finished on time without the last-minute mad rush!
So, to say that a stitch in
time saves nine is, indeed, the wisest course of action to follow, accomplishing
a task which has to be done, however unpleasant, makes you happy and contented
in the end.
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