7 Surefire Rules to be a Better YOU - Part 3 of 7

Rule 3 - Hustle while you wait

"All things come to those who hustle while they wait" Edison

This is the challenge of executing what matters while waiting for what's coming.

Waiting is inevitable.

In many instances in our lives, we are made to wait - at the frustratingly never-ending queue at McDonalds during lunch (it doesn't help that the lady in front of you is making an order for 15 people! And that too, during your extremely rigid lunch hour), at the Immigration office to get our passport renewed (before that trip which is less than 2 weeks away!), for a text reply to an SMS that you had sent out hours earlier, for that make-or-break business phone call, for the right person (or sometimes, regrettably, the wrong one!)...we wait a LOT!
Frankly, it is really sad to see what most people do while waiting. Speaking from personal experience, I have seen people nodding off to slumberland; looking rather pathetically at the digits on the display and then at that dreaded piece of paper in their hand, only to know that NO, nothing much has changed since 30 seconds ago, and YES, there are still 100 numbers to go; some people decide to start exploring themselves 'in depth' and no body parts are spared - nose, ears, hair, fingernails!

The challenge here is to make waiting worthwhile - and the question is, what else can we do whilst we wait?

Here are some ideas you can put to test:

1. Read! Probably one of the, if not the most underrated hobbies of all time. As overstated as this might sound, reading actually does increase one's outlook towards life! I will never forget an interview I saw years ago, on the now Royal Prof Ungku Aziz - and there are 2 things in that interview which are still fresh in memory till now - the fact that Ungku Aziz eats 2 bananas every morning to sharpen his memory...and that reading is his passion. And that guy is smart! I've learnt early on in life, that emulating what smart people do, can make you smart. Think about it...all the smart (and cool!) people read - Oprah (the ultra successful talk-show host) reads, Donald Trump (the successful billionaire property magnate) reads - so when are we going to develop this habit? Reading can snugly provide a solution to issues like "I'm so bored, I could die!" or "I have no money to travel the world, I'm going to be the only person in the world who hasn't left my house!" or "Hmmm...I don't have the slightest clue what they're talking about". As Oprah very aptly said "Books were my pass to personal freedom. I learned to read at age 3, and soon discovered there was a whole world to conquer that went beyond our farm in Mississippi"

2. Tech Helps! Yes it does. Having a laptop, a tablet (PC), a smartphone, an MP3 player (and NO, it does not have to be an iPod, kids), a camera or an e-book reader can help in the hustling process. I am so into The Secret and the Law of Attraction right now, that I'm hardly ever seen without my trusty MP3 player by my side - when I take my dogs out for walks, when I'm waiting to pick someone up at the LRT station, the minutes before I doze off at night - it really helps! Once, my dogs were in the car during a 3-hour drive from JB to KL, and I could've sworn that they were intently listening in on The Secret mp3 going on in my car! And the next day, I saw the 2 little terriers looking intently at the neighbour's cat (probably visualizing their dinner?!) If you're one of the lucky ones who possess a netbook (a smaller version of the laptop) then it's as convenient as carrying a manual notebook around - use it to work, play games, chat, e-mail). With the blessings (?) of Facebook, Twitter, IMs, MSN Messenger, Yahoo Chat, Flickr and the thousands of other tech-stuff to do, why should waiting be a pain?

3. Call mom. My life took a 360 when I read this quote by American poet and psychiatrist, Stephen Levine "If you were going to die soon, and had only one phone call you could make, who would you call, and what would you say? And why are you waiting?" Puts things in perspective, now, doesn't it? I mean really, what's stopping us from doing something that we would do if we knew we didn't have very long to live? Just for conversation's sake, when was the last time you called mom or dad, your best buddy at high school, your favourite teacher, your sister? Nothing to do while waiting for the LRT, or while getting your hair washed at the salon, or while waiting for your favourite game to telecast live on TV? Pick up that phone and dial that familiar number. It may be an act of hustling on your part, and it may be a mere 5 minutes, but for that someone at the other end, it may have made their day. Now, isn't that worth it?

4. Reflect. Life passes us by in a blink of an eye. Children grow up too fast, weekends whizz by too speedily and Mondays always come by too soon! After all that complaining about "how fast time flies", it would almost be a sin if we threw away any free time we had! During my recent birthday, my husband went to Johor for a meeting. As his meeting fell on my birthday, he asked me to come along and 'unwind'. So I did. I checked out of the hotel at 12noon, and my husband who was supposed to be waiting for me at the parking lot, called to "really, really apologize" as his meeting was going on longer than expected. So there I was, at a Cafe by the poolside. I read for an hour or so, and they started getting weary. I decided to use that time to reflect - on my life, on my past thoughts and actions, on how I can become a better person. My husband was (again, very apologetically) 6 hours late. But really, unbeknown to me at first, that was probably the most necessary 6 hours of my life! Do some thinking with that free time. Remember, there is a huge difference between thinking and not doing anything. Hustling is simply a smarter way to make good use of the 24 hours we are blessed with. Some may say that having to hustle would mean stealing time away from the necessity of relaxing. True, but if you think of it relaxing is a form of hustling, as is reflecting or thinking.

In hustling, we will find ourselves eventually dropping our constant complaints:

- "He never called!"

- "Where were you?! I waited for you for hours!!"

- "I wish someone would just give me a job, already! I'm tired of waiting!"

- "Why must my husband like to eat turkey?? It takes so long to bake!"

When we stop complaining, we stop finding fault in others and in ourselves - and we start looking for new reasons to live and be happy. In doing so, we will directly or indirectly find new opportunities behind doors that might have been locked before, new reasons to smile, new passions, new friends. Let's give ourselves a chance to either learn something new, reconnect old ties or just find ourselves in a more meaningful way.

Annoyed at yet another delayed flight? - hustle while you wait!

"Things may come to those who wait, but only the things left by those who hustle"

Abraham Lincoln

Coming up...Part 4 of the "7 Surefire Rules to be a Better YOU"