‘Academic’ Intelligence: The Twenty- Thirteen Narrative

It was now 11:54 a.m. and John was still staring at the screen of his monitor, hoping that he would, for the first time in ages, read about something positive, something nice that had happened to someone somewhere.

His hopes were, naturally, massacred rather quickly by the newsfeed of torrential negativism involving, what he now ironically referred to as the ‘regular mood- brighteners’ - a detailed ghastly account of the most recent murders and rapes garnished with a dressing of the ever-so- common and devastating civil wars.

‘Ah, yes…civil wars’, John thought. There was, of course, absolutely nothing civil about them. Take the war in Syria, for instance; John had long been wondering what it was that justified the ‘World Leaders’ to just sit there and watch whilst people were getting slaughtered as animals on daily, nay, hourly basis; the death now had now reached 20, 000.

‘Politics; that was what it all boiled down to at the end’, John thought. He had never pretended to like politics (or even understand it, for that matter); to him, it resembled a huge basket of snakes and lies that was being passed from one government to another as a rather frail and useless legacy that no- one really wanted or had a use for.

Or maybe they were fond of snakes; after all, snake dishes were considered a delicacy in many countries.

As for the lies; well, he quickly convinced himself that people could find them useful as lies had, for some time, been a rather popular currency around the world.

He was quite poor when it came to lies; but he was learning, and fast. The other day, when his son came back from yet another exhausting day of looking for a job, he looked him in the eye and told him that everything was going to be alright and that it was a matter of time before he found one.

John was quite proud when his son got his Masters Degree in Mathematics and Accounting; he remembered his eyes watering.

His eyes were, in fact, still watering; but it was not joy that filled them. His son had been looking for a job for over six months now but with the youth unemployment rate going over thirty- percent, it was getting increasingly difficult for a young an inexperienced graduate to secure a position.

It was times like those that made John remember about the days in which employers viewed inexperienced graduates as blank sheets of paper on which they could write.

He also remembered that employers used to write on those sheets with a pencil and erase the errors so that they could try again.

A mistake was not fatal; it was human to err and divine to forgive, they used to say.

‘Yes, back then, when something got broken, it got fixed and not merely thrown away and replaced…’ he thought, the nostalgia creeping up his spine.

But that was then and this was now; that much he knew.

He looked ahead, almost through the screen and past the window, growing ever so weary of the negativity that had permeated the very air around him. His look was somewhat dreamy; it was as though he had suddenly decided to adopt a completely different mindset to the one that had haunted him all day long.

He turned around and, looking through the other window behind him, smiled, to himself rather than to anyone or anything else.

He sat in front of the computer, opened a new Word document and started writing, as if in a daze…

‘It was now 12:51p.m. and Tony was still staring at the screen, cursing the world and hoping that it would stop raining.

That was, of course, a lie out of the basket; a lie that he had selected to suit his mood.

All he had to do was to look through the window to his left where the clouds had disappeared and the Sun was shining...’

At which point John did exactly that and it dawned on him that the world was quite a subjective place and reality was quite relative.

You either picked the rain or the Sun; the choice was, in the end, yours to make.

John resumed writing- yes, Tony was in for a ride; and so was everyone else.

Poet's Corner: The Fact

‘Social’ Intelligence: Watch Your Mouth

Since I don’t really have any time to fritter away at this present moment due to the fact that it is ultra rainy and horrible outside and I am hoping to go out for a walk (//insert// sarcasm //insert//), I shall begin today’s article in a rather familiar to you manner: with an example.

It all happened about three weeks ago. I was coming back from the gym and was on my way to meet up with some friends for a quick catch- up over a cup of coffee.

As it was raining (surprise, surprise, sugar and ice...) outside, we all went indoors and, having exchanged the usual pleasantries, went on to discussing random everyday stuff.

There was, however, a newcomer among us; you might say that he was a friend of a friend of a friend.

We shook hands and politely introduced ourselves to one another, at which point he sat down and started playing games on his smart phone (which was, I thought, the MOST sociable thing to do under the circumstances).

I was discussing my work- out with a friend when the abovementioned chap, leaving his smart phone alone for a second, said out loud:

‘Only people with issues work out!’

Then he resumed playing his game as though nothing had happened.

The conversation went onto another subject area- law. I was telling my friends about a dear friend of mine who has dealt with and acted for Madonna and the likes, helping them out with various IP matters, injunctions, etc.

The same guy then looked up and said, out loud:

‘Hm, I have always been of the opinion that IP law is not a particularly intellectually- stimulating area of law...’

At that point, as you might imagine, I asked who the Hell he was and what did he do for a living.

I shan’t delve into any detail; suffice to say that he worked for a bank and had never studied or done anything law- related in his life.

We soon parted and went to a house party the following evening where a friend of mine said that the same person said (behind my back, of course, and rather ‘jokingly’, naturally) that  I was a person who did a lot of random things and did not have a goal in life.

Even I would not have perceived the above as a joke; especially when was coming from a person that I had met only recently.

Ergo, thank God he had said it behind my back.

In the light of the above, I should like to urge you to be incredibly careful about what, where and to whom you are saying things that might be highly deleterious to your future well- being.

To begin with, from a purely logical point of view, regardless of how horrible a day you have had, the examples above can, under NO circumstances, be deemed as ‘acceptable’ or ‘commonplace’.

Firstly, if you are amongst people that you do not know and have never seen before, it might be a good idea to leave a good first impression; offending people at random is, then, most definitely not the right way to go.

Secondly, and quite logically so, it makes NO sense to badmouth people you have never met (ESPECIALLY those who have previously worked with celebrities) because, again from a purely logical point of view, you might need their services, albeit in the very distant future.

Thirdly, by misbehaving and offending people, be in on purpose or unintentionally, you lead people to believe that you are a very negative person who will project his bad mood on everyone in the room so that he is not the only one to feel horrible. No-  one likes such people; NO -ONE.

Fourthly, and most importantly, if you want to be successful in ANY career, you need to do some proper NETWORKING. Word of mouth travels at the speed of light; if you do not watch what you are saying, you might soon find that those around you are not that interested in conversing with you as they have ‘heard about’ your recent behaviour.

So, pray, be logical and smart about it; do watch your mouth.

Measure twice, cut once.

Think before you act speak.

That sort of thing.

‘Everyday’ Intelligence: How a Work- Out Works Out

I was recently told by a rather unpleasant individual that only people with issues went to the gym to work out.

The chap claimed that going to the gym was an utter waste of time as all people wanted to do there was to ‘buff- up’, become ‘more muscular’ and, thus, eradicate their insecurity by making those around feel more insignificant and insecure.

He further said that he would much rather sit down and read a book as that, he claimed, would, at least, be intellectually stimulating and would enhance his brain activity.

Well, judging by the above, reading books has not worked out very well for the said person as his brain activity seems to have somehow deteriorated.

Leaving aside the warped and somewhat infantile reasoning above, I would now like to briefly note the benefits of working out and going to the gym.

Yes, apparently I am a person with some serious issues and rather severe mental scaring, mainly because I have been working- out for almost six months now.

Let us, then, examine, from a purely common- sense point of view, why working out works out:

It teaches how to be disciplined

I go to the gym three times a week; usually at 21:30 on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

In the beginning, it was rather difficult to stick to that routine because of the myriad of issues that I had (ha!). 

I did not, at the time, enjoy going to the gym when it was pouring outside.

In time, however, I got used to it and got into a frame of mind that going to the gym at the exact time, on the exact day was the normal thing to do.

It teaches you how to set realistic goals

The above is of immense importance.

 It is quite true that anything is possible; however, it is equally true that some things are better left for a later stage.

For instance, everyone wants to start doing bench- press with 1.5 times his own bodyweight but it will, in most cases, take at least a year before he can do that.

Further, the only way to do so is to systematically increase the weight so that your body can get used to the routine.

You can apply the above strategy to pretty much everything you do in your everyday life.

It teaches you how to be patient

Being patient can be incredibly difficult sometimes (especially for me; patience is definitely not one of my best virtues...).

Knowing that you are working towards a greater goal, however, helps you become more composed and realise that patience is, sometimes, the only way around.

It teaches you how to appreciate other people’s efforts

When you first walk in to the gym, you often see guys who are having quite a tough time in, say, doing squats with 100kg.

You smile, maybe even laugh, and walk past them.

You then come out of the dressing room and try to do a squat yourself...with 30kg.

You put down the weights, look around for a second, and, rather ashamed, nod in appreciation to all the people around you, acknowledging their efforts.

It helps you improve your brain activity

No science here; I shall adopt a simple logical approach.

Working out:

• relieves your stress
• helps you become healthier
• helps you become stronger
• helps you become more aesthetically pleasing to the eyes
• helps you feel useful
• helps you take your mind off any problems/ hurdles that you might have
• helps you realise that anything is possible and that you can do it if you try hard enough

Healthy body, healthy mind. If working out does all of the above, it leaves your brain in a relaxed state of mind (as it is no longer thinking of solutions to any of the above) which, in turn, helps you think more clearly and logically.

To sum up, working out DOES work out and helps you become a better and more efficient person.

And, trust me, you needn’t have that many issues to start working out...

Food for Thought: The M- PESA System

‘But let us now focus our undivided attention on banks and their recent failures which have been, in most cases, left unpunished.’

Said no- one, ever.

I am not normally a hateful person mainly because hating is too much effort and I must really care for something before I start hating it.

A sequence of events, however, has managed to get each and every legal fibre in my body to scream its lungs out.

I shall very briefly summarise the sequence in the hope that you will share, albeit partly, my frustration.

• The Royal Bank of Scotland went downhill because of its investment banking ‘strategies’- it was saved by the taxpayer.
•  HSBS recently admitted that, in 2000, it had inefficient measures of battling money laundering and might have unintentionally assisted several individuals in doing their ‘washing- up’. It got fined.
•  Barclays admitted to manipulating LIBOR. It got fined.
•  UBS admitted to manipulating LIBOR. It got fined.

All of the above carry a degree of criminality (professional negligence, aiding and abetting money laundering, insider dealing, fraud, etc.). However, many newspapers and journalists have recently noted that banks were simply ‘too big to jail’ and the only sanction that we would ever be able to impose on them was…fines.

That’s ok, though, because banks pay their fines with their own money. Oh, no, wait; they don’t.

Regardless of how immensely frustrating the above is, however, we are often reminded that we cannot really exist without the banking sector (although, we are rarely ever, mind you, reminded that about 20% of the world’s GDP goes towards paying off debt…).

Indeed, we need banks, often in their physical manifestations (the branches), to pay our bills, make transfers, pay off a credit card, etc.

But what if we didn’t? What if banks played but a minimal part in our everyday payments and transfers?

Is that even possible?

Yes. Yes it is.

Let us stray away from the ‘developed’ world for a second and focus our attention on the ‘developing’ one.

In 2007, a group of Kenyan students developed software that would allow people to send and receive money via their mobile phones and with the use of the SMS (texting) system.

They called it M- PESA (‘pesa’ is Swahili for ‘money’); the system allowed people to transfer small sums of money between themselves at a small flat fee.

The software was adopted and implemented by Safaricom (Vodafone’s African subsidiary) and further developed and improved in time.

Today, over nine million Kenyans use the system on their mobiles so that they can easily:

• Transfer money between themselves
• Pay their bills
• Pay for the shopping
• Purchase mobile phone airtime
• Deposit and withdraw money from their bank accounts

The maximum that an individual can send at one ago has recently been increased to $ 500 and the flat rate charge for the service remains minimal.

Furthermore, the M-PASA system allows people to be in control of their own money and to access it whenever they need to without the need of a branch or a bank, for that matter.

The software has been labelled by some as quite unrealistic and rather dangerous as it devalues money, turning it into an electronic currency.

Such an argument is, of course, quite shallow and rather absurd as, in the UK for instance, money has not been based on gold since 1931 and has, thus, considerably devalued.

The above system has been developed by students. In a developing country. As a SCHOOL project.

And it works swimmingly well (I’ve always wanted to say that!)

Surely, the developed countries will be able to come up with an even more effective system that would resemble M-PESA and will make people less dependent on banks?

If there’s a will, there’s a way.

IF there’s a will…

A Runt’s Rant: The Marvels of the Earthrealm

Ah, yes, Boxing day; it’s that lovely time of the year when people of all age and background go out to ravage the shops and do some old- fashioned, bare- knuckle boxing.

I, too, adore bare- knuckle boxing; especially when I am up against, what seems like, five hundred billion discount- hungry people who are all, at first glance, after my selected item of clothing.

But, contrary to common belief, today’s ranting shall not comprise of a torrent of idle complaints surrounding the incredulous lunacy of Boxing day and the somewhat petrifying and malicious twinkle in the eyes of consumers (i.e. the people who will readily consume you, exclamation mark).

Today, I should like to focus on what I SAW rather than what I FELT.

I did the unbelievably amateurish and retarded mistake of walking into NEXT today, in the hope that I would find a ‘bargain’ on a deep blue navy suit or some good shoes, at the very least

.

Alas, I did not find any of those; what I DID find, however, was a legion of people who seemed me quite unreal and comic (alas, in a rather sad way...).

I shall refrain from uploading any pictures as I cannot really afford a breach of privacy lawsuit (because, of course, about a million people read my blog every day and the chances that one of them is someone from a picture that I have taken are IMMENSE. NOT. Truth be told, though, I shan’t post any of those photos because I do not want to ruin your dinner...).

I shall, however, do my utmost best to describe the several picturesque individuals walking around the NEXT store.

First and foremost, they were truly on the NEXT level. Judging by their looks (the sparkly shoes, the spiky jackets, etc.), I’d say that they were of the firm belief that the world HAD, indeed, ended on 21^st December and they could, thus, wear whatever they pleased.

I cannot, of course, describe everyone but some of them did stick to my mind as a fly does on honey (but then again, everything sticks to honey....).

Aaand the winners are:

The majestic flamingo

It all his magnificence, the peacock was dressed rather richly; he was wearing burgundy slacks, FLIP- FLOPS, a yellow t- shirt and a, wait for it, GREEN jacket.

He was, without a doubt, a descendant of the leprechauns.

His pot of gold was, it would seem, already in his possession as he had bought the most absurdly expensive and out- worldly clothes on the planet.

Furthermore, the fact that it was 2 C outside did not seem to bother him at the very least because he was too hot to be cold.

He was queuing up to pay for the pink hat and blue blazer that he had carefully selected to match his attire.

I did curtsy (out of shear awe, naturally) and walked away in quiet contemplation.

The Forest Fairy

Leaf green tiara.

Olive- green top.

Deep green shorts.

Lime green tights.

Spring green shoes.

No; I closed my eyes and REFUSED to believe it.

When I had finally built up the courage to open them, there was nothing but a majestic rose- bush, blossoming before me.

I am only kidding, she was still there.

Why have I burdened you with such utterly useless and pseudo- amusing information, you ask?

Well, mainly because I can and because I thought that it would be rather selfish to keep it to myself.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Good Idea, Chap: The 24/7 Gym

The inevitability of starting an article with

Ho- Ho- Ho, Merry Christmas everyone!

Is of immense proportions and not something to be reckoned with.

Prior to attempting to bore you to death with today’s spoonful of ever- so- useful bit of information, I should like to wish you all, with all my heart (yes, I do have one), to be healthy and positive.

I can assure you that everything else simply flows from the above (I shall at, at some point, definitely write an article on that too).

Many of you will probably, however, stop me in my tracks by posing, what I consider to be, quite a logical question, namely:

How am I supposed to be healthy with all this delicious and tempting (and junk) food around me? Also, it is very difficult to be healthy when everything in life is so stressful these day; how am I supposed to stay positive?

Fair enough; good point. There is, however, a pretty simple solution: work out.

I shan't delve into the various work- outs that you can do as they should be individual- specific.

I shall, though, say that a lot of those around me claim that they cannot go to the gym because they have an 8 till 6 job which does not allow them to do so.

I am often told that the gyms around them were open from very early in the morning, say 6am, and closed at about 7pm which does allow them enough time to do a proper exercise routine.

The above excuses (as any other excuse, really) are, well, BS (as in ‘baloney sandwiches’, of course); you can always go to the gym before or after work.

But let us not go there as the topic of willpower is best left alone for now. Let me familiarise you with The Gym à

< http://www.thegymgroup.com/ >

Prior to telling you about it, let me stress on the fact that I do NOT get paid to advertise things; I merely do so because I think that they are awesome and innovative and will, thus, be highly beneficial to my readers.

The Gym is a 24/7 gym which has no staff; the only people working there are two self- employed cleaners.

The above idea is brilliant, from a business perspective because:

 è It has regular maintenance but it is done by self- employed people rather than employees

The legal implications and differences between the two are quite significant- employees have a lot more rights against their employer)

    è There is a list of personal gym trainers that you can contact, should you wish to do your own workout routine, specific to your body type

The gym does, in no way, affiliate itself with those trainers; they are, too, self- employed.

 è The membership is on a rolling monthly contract

You can cancel anytime you want to; no need to pay for a whole year upfront- brilliant!

 è It has got separate shower cabins and a large amount of lockable lockers.

All the privacy you need; also, shower cabins are cleaned on a regular basis and are quite hygienic.

 è It is open 24/7

Which eliminates the above- mentioned silly excuses; I, myself, go to the gym at 22:00.

Working out is essential and I shall explain why in due course (on Friday).

Until then, let me once more reiterate to you that you no longer have a valid excuse to slack off in the New Year- find your nearest ‘The Gym’ and get to it!

If there isn’t one; even better- start it up yourself!

'Academic' Intelligence: Recruitment Machines: a Graduate’s Perspective

The youth unemployment in the United Kingdom is currently set at a staggering 20%- a figure that many commentators dream of quickly dismissing as a waking nightmare.

The above, however, represents the horrific situation that graduates are currently in.

Alas, law graduates are no exception. A recent study shows that there are about sixty- five applicants for every training contract vacancy every year (<http://l2b.thelawyer.com/65-students-chasing-each-training-contract-vacancy/1008370.article >). It must also be noted that that number excludes those graduates who have taken a fancy in law, have undertaken the GDL conversion course and have decided to go down the solicitor/ barrister route.

In the end of the day, however, most graduates realise that, rather than going through statistics and despairing themselves, it would make a lot more sense to start applying for training contracts or pupillages.

Training contract application forms can be quite tedious and lengthy and tend to involve between six and eight essay- type questions, about three- hundred words each.  This amounts to a total of 1800- 2400 words per application form.

Back in 2010, I myself applied for a training contract with forty firms- most of them magic and silver circle. Even though I was not called to a single interview back then, there was something that I found even more disheartening.

I had spent about three days on a ten- page long  application form for a training contract at a magic circle firm and had, rather content with and proud of myself, submitted it at 08:00am via email.

At 08:06am, on the same day, I received the following reply:

“Dear X,

Further to your recent application for a training contract with us, I regret to inform you that having carefully reviewed your details, we will not be taking your application any further on this occasion.

May I take this opportunity to thank you for the interest which you have shown in our firm, and wish you the best of luck in securing a training contract in the near future.

Yours sincerely

Miss Y Q

Graduate Recruitment Manager”

At the time, I was quite mystified by the above email as I could not quite grasp how anyone could have carefully viewed a ten- page application form in six minutes.

The only way in which that could have happened, I thought, was for my application form to have gone through some sort of software which had sieved through all application forms and quickly dismissed those who did not satisfy the firm’s criteria.

 I then decided that that was a rather ludicrous and far-fetched idea.

 Alas, I recently stumbled upon an article on the BBC website which proved my fears.

‘Beating the Recruitment Machines’, < http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-20255387 >

I had previously heard of companies using such software but it had, to the best of my knowledge, never been publicized or made official; until now.

On its own, the above article provides invaluable advice on how to tackle the ‘recruitment machines’ by using the correct template, words and even font and paragraph styling for your CV.

Further, on the face of it, from an employer’s point of view, using such software to hastily dismiss irrelevant CVs is quite time and cost- efficient.

On the other hand, however, it is quite worrying that smaller companies, including law firms, are starting to use the above for the their convenience.

Such a policy is likely to directly affect the already- struggling law graduates in their search for a training contract.

To begin with, the article mentions that such software often looks for certain keywords in an application form. The example given is that the software often looks for ‘marketing EXECUTIVE’ and not ‘marketing ASSISTANT’, automatically dismissing applications which have used the latter.

 It would be nearly impossible for a graduate to know whether the software used by law firms will search for ‘litigation ASSISTANT’ or a ‘litigation EXECTUVE’ or a ‘LEGAL assistant’ or a ‘PARALEGAL’ as those job roles are often used interchangeably.

Also, the search for keywords begs the question whether the use of such methods and software is ethical, moral and fair. Let us assume that one applicant is familiar with the key words that a certain firm is looking for whilst another applicant is not. Albeit a mere speculation at present, such a scenario is not unlikely and might grant the former a rather significant and unfair advantage over the latter.

Finally, it must be noted that there are currently no companies that are formally offering advice on how to tackle such software as it has only recently been publicized as widely used for recruitment purposes. This makes it quite difficult for law graduates to learn how to effectively deal with them.

The use of ‘recruitment machines’ is anything but unexpected. On the other hand, it is quite unnerving and unbelievable that such software has been introduced without informing graduates, let alone providing them with some training on it.

Once more, law graduates have been presented with yet another hurdle which they will need to overcome before they can even go on to an interview.

It would, however, make sense to equip them with the required tools and skills which would allow them to efficiently tackle the challenge.

After all, graduates are the children of today; you cannot possibly expect a child to learn how to walk on its own.

Poet's Corner: Blue

‘Social Intelligence’: Dress to Impress, All the Way to Success, Part Four: The Right Suit

Ah, yes, Christmas is upon us (no irony intended this time!). And everyone knows what follows Christmas, right?

BOXING DAY

A lovely day in which even the smallest of shops turns into an unforgiving battleground where you can use your mind, if not your limbs, in a very limited timeframe.

A day in which you would much rather stay at home and watch cheesy Christmas movies but you somehow always choose not to.

In the hope to find a real bargain (as opposed to a fictional one, I guess...), you dive into the zounds of mind- crazed frenzied shoppers who would much rather bit off your finger than let you get to what you want.

I have, in fact, last year I witnessed how a middle- aged lady snatched a size 44 suit off a man’s grasp and got it for herself; the only thing that I could come up with the time was ‘Ah well, Christmas spirit, I guess...’

But let us, albeit for a moment, opt to ostracize ourselves from the boxing- day fanatics and focus on what you went out for.

You went out with the clear idea to get a new suit at a good price. So you look around the various high- street brands- John Lewis, Moss, Austin Reed, TM Lewin, Burton, Zara, etc- to find out that they have quite a selection.

There are, however, two things that worry you a bit:

1. None of the suit jackets match the trousers in size
2. You have no idea what type of suit to get

With the former, I’m afraid, you just have to hope that something decent will eventually turn up. After all, there HAS to be something wrong with the suits; otherwise they would not have been ‘reduced to clear’, see?

Coming back to the latter, however, you shouldn't worry too much; just read on.

As with pretty much any other piece of clothing, when choosing a suit, you must always be mindful of your body type. So, as promised, this is what you should be looking at and for:

(courtesy of << http://www.kinowear.com/blog/the-best-suit-for-your-body-type >> )

The Tall and Skinny

• Go for a lighter in colour and heavier fabric (tweed, wool) which will add weight to your body.
• Go for a single vent or no vent because that make your body look bulkier.
• Go for a higher- up button stance as it will be proportional to your body.
• Go for an ‘L’ suit (40L, etc).

 Avoid:

• Sharp and aggressive lapels
• Pinstripe and chalk stripe patterns

The Bulky Man

• Go for a darker in colour and lighter fabric (soft wool) which will make you look more slender.
• Go for a tailored suit.
• Go for solid stripe or chalk stripe as it will make you look taller and more slender
• Go for an ‘R’ suit (40R, etc)

Avoid:

• Light colours as they accentuate on weight
• Double- vents as your suit must be as tailored as possible

The Short Guy

• Go for a tone that blends in (ochre, khaki, stone, etc.)
• Go for a strong stripe or chalk stripe to enhance your height
• Go for a lower button stance as it will make you look taller
• Go for an ‘S’ suit (40S, etc)

Avoid:

• Oval and relaxed lapels as they will draw unnecessary attention to your height
• Single or not vent as it accentuates on your height and build

I do hope that you will find the above guidelines helpful when you battle the unscrupulous orcish army on Boxing day.

Remember: do not compromise and get a suit that does not feel or look right.

Think of the suit as your weapon of choice; will you go to a war with a can- opener....?

‘Everyday’ Intelligence: Learn How to Prioritise

You attempt to wake up at 07:00; not because you want to, mind you.

It is purely a routine that you have developed and perfected throughout your somewhat repetitive and often frustrating as Hell 9-5 life.

It is a culture that you have a been a slave to for quite some time now; a culture which has permeated your thoughts to an extreme extent comparable only to your utter disgust for waking up early.

You toss and turn; you feel weary- and not in a nice way.

Crawling out of the bed, you manage to get a hold of your diary and, opening it up with some considerable effort, stare at the page for some time.

It is blank and it has been for some time now.

You are, of course, fully aware that the reason for the void is not a lack of things to do but a constant, and rather persistent, rejection of reality.

You frown to yourself, drop the diary on the ground and decide to…

…procrastinate.

After all, why do something today when you can do it tomorrow?

Quite true.

It is of utmost importance, however, to understand that, prior to being able to adhere to the above, you must be able to list your tasks and prioritise them so that you know what ones can be left for tomorrow or even the day after.

It is quite easy, really; the list can even be produced WHILST you are procrastinating.

All you need is a pen and a paper; ready?

There’s an example:

• Set up standing order to pay rent for 29^th of every month                  1
• Do weekly shopping                                                                            4
• Have a haircut                                                                                     5
• Call Jessie re outing on Friday                                                           6
• Pay the council tax                                                                              2
• Work out                                                                                             7
• Improve general knowledge                                                                8
• Improve commercial awareness                                                        9
• Return books to library                                                                        3         

All you need to do now is put a little number next to each of them and prioritise their importance, as I have done above.

The page in your diary is no longer blank. You smile, get our of bed and start doing the tasks, one by one.

Accomplishing a task makes you feel quite invincible and ready to tackle any challenge, overcome any hurdle.

As you get into the habit of doing it, you soon realise that the more task lists you complete, the more new tasks you come up with.

Prioritising, then, is not only a way to cope with the hurdles and challenges that you are faced with but also a path to self- improvement and discipline.

I am fully aware that all of the above sounds quite clichéd and simple.

Yet, as I have previously said, simple as it may be, it is something that people tend to forget.

And remember:  

You can do ANYTHING but not EVERYTHING; start prioritising.