Old knowledge for today’s life.
Time is the stuff the world is made of.
When you pay for something, you pay for it with the time it took to earn the money necessary to buy it.
When you are with someone, you invest your time in that person.
When you say yes to someone’s proposal, you are giving up the time you could have spent on something else if you had said no.
Whatever you do, it always costs you time.
I want to share these four old Latin sayings about time with you so that you don’t waste it and use it wisely.
Festina lente
This Latin locution is attributed to the Roman Emperor Augustus (27 B.C. — 14 A.D.) and means “Hurry slowly.”
Augustus used the quote to remind his commanders to do an excellent job in their military campaigns.
In Spain, there is a saying derived from this phrase that says “Dress me slowly; I’m in a hurry.”
In life, on the one hand, one should not waste time, and on the other hand, one should not hurry.
It is wise to run only if you learn to walk first.
One of the biggest mistakes people make is accelerating their processes without having well-established the foundations of their projects.
Because any positive eventuality, such as an increase in demand, overloads the designed system, and you end up “dying of success.”
This applies to both personal and professional projects.
So hurry slowly, but remember that short-term results are only meaningful if they are sustainable over time.
Don’t underestimate the small, recurring, daily victories because, as my grandfather used to say, “grain by grain also fills the barn.”
Tempora mutantur, et nos mutamur in illis
“Times change, and we change with them”.
This idea comes from Heraclitus (535 BC — 470 BC), but the phrase as such is attributed to Lotarius I (795 AD — 855 AD), Emperor of the West, and governor of Bavaria, king of Italy and Middle France.
The phrase has more relevance today than ever.
Times change, and we change with them.
The problem is that you will pay a high price if you resist change and do not adapt.
But if you adapt, you will mutate with the times, and everything will be fine.
Remember: the important thing is not your goal but what you become as you pursue it. — A sailor becomes a captain by sailing, not only reaching the destination.
Times change us; it is up to you to decide if that change improves you (you adapt) or worsens you (you become anachronistic).
Discipulus est prioris posterior dies
“The second day is the pupil of the first.”
This is a phrase attributed to Publilius Siro (85 B.C. — 43 B.C.), an enslaved person who was so talented that his master educated him and freed him.
This phrase tells us that all beginnings are tedious, but as time goes by, so does our ability, and what once seemed difficult is no longer so.
Or, as my grandfather used to say, “What today is complicated, tomorrow will be a little easier, and in a while, you will even have fun while doing it because you will have mechanized it.”
We have to pay the initial price: the indifference, the mental fog, the resistance to do something if we want to master it.
Because tomorrow will continue to be a consequence of today, whether or not we learn the lessons life is trying to teach us.
Therefore, I recommend you not to let yourself be seduced by shortcuts.
Success is often nothing more than not being seduced by life’s shortcuts and paying the daily price to become masters of our gifts.
A virtual hug
AG
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