Cut out the shit.

I’ve been struggling to write recently. It’s an unusual figure of speech people use when they profess that they ‘cannot find the time’ to do something. Time is not something that we find or lose, that we trade in and can buy or discover more of.

A better way to put it might be to say: ‘I felt more compelled by other activities.’ (whatever those other, seemingly more necessary activities may be…) At times, we will shunt aside worthy tasks in favour of the easy, the pleasurable and even the downright banal if they require less from us. I love it when someone tells me they just couldn’t find the time to get in touch with me about something pressing.

It’s an accepted but ultimately ridiculous turn of phrase – we can find 10 seconds to send a text: ‘mad busy – will call asap’ but we’re more likely fearful that such a brush off won’t suffice and we’ll have to enter into lengthly explanations, pulling us away from the task at hand. The task at hand might be as brutal in it’s simplicity as preparing or eating food. It could be in the midst of a moment of sweet inspiration, the flow of the muse in full swing as we spill our souls onto an instrument, across the text of a page, into the brush strokes that transform a blank canvas.

It’s truly one of the most unfortunate and artistically handicapping problems of 2009. You can be contacted (and thus, distracted) pretty much at any time of day or night, no matter where you are in the world. The internet has made it possible for us to send emails in great swathing strokes across entire countries, the power and popularity of mobile phones has meant that text messages, phone conversations, even instant messaging are a part of most people’s everyday life, and I, for one have spent the last few years thinking that those individuals who lack the resources or the techno savvy to plug in to this giant swirling mass of communication are way behind the curve, while I myself am on the crest of some awesome wave, sweeping me forward to bigger and better things….

I’m starting to lose my faith.

Just because you can be contacted at any time, does not mean that you should be contactable at any time. Think about that. I’m not sure that I get any more good shit done now than I did before. I know that the inventors of the past promised machines would mean the workforce of the future (i.e. us, now) would be more productive and work fewer hours, with more time for leisure and life than our industrial ancestors. I don’t see that personally. I see a forever filling email box, a youtube channel that I struggle to find time for, millions of phonecalls that I have to make, seemingly just to assure people that I’m ok and we are still friends. (whereas in the past, we just chilled – ‘unless you hear from me, assume everything is cool.’)

Life has to be prioritised. We must decide what is important in our growth as person, place that first and then figure out what time we can allow for other activities. Important as they may seem, they are secondary and should be treated as such. Although I know many men who rejoice in this queerest of past-times, I myself am yet to comprehend why so many members of my gender take literature to the toilet. It doesn’t go down well for me. I’m there to do a job. There is a task at hand. I would like to wait until the task is upon me, then go, do what must be done and leave. Why it is that anyone would want to lose themself in the literary marvels of the world, all the while sitting with your pants at your ankles in a room that stinks of shit, is beyond me.

20 minutes in the toilet is about 18 minutes too long. Get out of there.

Idiots who spend most of their time in the gym chatting on their mobile phone. You are here to work out motherfucker – lift something or get out.

Reality TV. Don’t even get me started.

35 minutes of adverts before a movie starts in my local cinema. Fuck off – come on with the movie already.

Certain things must take priority, to the detriment of others. I want to work out. I need to practice. I have tunes that must be learned. There are mixes I must finish to deadline. These are important tasks. It’s not like I don’t have stuff to do.

At the same time, I thirst after inspiration. There are concerts that I must see, movies I must watch, rollercoasters I must ride, women I must hold and kiss. There are tears that need to be cried, whether because you are sad, overwhelmed, moved or just plain exhausted. I have friends that I want to see, children that I should play with before they grow all too quickly.

These are ALL priority tasks. How then, can one be expected to fit all of these priority tasks in? How do we manage with life as busy and hectic as it is, to give the necessary time and attention over to important activities that will help us to grow, thrive and develop?

‘A man who chases two rabbits ends up catching neither of them’ Gil Grissom

My answer, in as best as I can figure one, is to cut out the shit. If there is an activity you indulge in that is beneath your honest effort then ditch it. People who work to save up money so that they can buy celebrity magazines and then hand over their precious time to this banal back and forth, the love-hate life in the spotlight of the latest leigon of no-talent hopeless paparazzi ‘targets’ are imbiciles.

Anyone in this country who honestly gives half a shit about anything that Katie Price or Peter Andre does should be taken out in the street and beaten with a large, crudely carved wooden club.

The fact that people think that these ‘guilty pleasures’ are harmless are as self-deluding as the asshole who steals things from people but sleeps soundly at night thinking ‘at least I’m not a rapist.’ Not being the worst asshole you know, doesn’t mean that you’re not still an asshole. The amount of progress we, as a species could have made, if the average person aspired to a higher level of time wasting than watching ‘I’m-a-celebrity-big-brother-dancer-on-ice-in-the-jungle’s-got-talent’ is beyond measure.

The collective energy of the Earth and all of it’s inhabitants is no doubt on a slide powered by the relentless negativity of the culture-less dirge that we have blasting into every home 24 hours a day. It’s sad that so many people aspire to so little. Turn back the tide people. Go and watch people who light a fire under your ass. So many students tell me of gigs they saw ‘it was so good, I didn’t know whether to go home and practice or just give up…’ If you aren’t sure which way to go… maybe that’s a sign in itself. There could be nothing worse for the world of art than this relentless mediocrity that seems to be the birthright of the internet generation. (yay!! I sound like a carmudgeonly old man..)

Everything is on offer and easily accessible, and if nothing demands effort then nothing has any worth. Fuck that. Get a Beatles record. Get Dark Side of the Moon, Rage Against the Machine, Thriller, The Dark Knight Soundtrack, watch The Shawshank Redemption, The Godfather II, Leon, Let The Right One in – read a book for fk sake!!!

Quest after those sweeping feelings in life, where you are lifted out of your simple repetitious patterns. Be re-affirmed by the power of a great gig or an awesome movie. Turn your TV off as much as you can. Practice your instrument. Love the people in your life as much as you can. Delight in the splendour of the world and all of the things you haven’t done yet.. because you still have them ahead of you. Ignore the shit. Get rid of it.

Go to bed early some nights, if only so that you can get up early and do something great tomorrow, even if it’s as simple as making a plan.

Make that plan. See it through.

Fuck money. Aspire to create art that will move people to tears and then do it as best you can. If you do things for money, then money is all you’ll ever get. Money may seem enough to some, but money is just paper and coins, and the life is made of more than that. I’d hate to lie on my deathbed and think: “Did I have a good life? ….well… I made lots of money…..”

Aspire to reach the top of the pile, as opposed to doing just enough to stay off the bottom.

Tagged as: art, celebrity, culture, dave marks, inspiration, life skills, motivation, music, practice, regime, routine, schedule, time management