Translator: Luca Mandotti Reviewer: Maria Pericleous
“How much time have I got?”
If we had posed this question to Aristoteles,
he would probably, certainly actually
have given us a lecture on cosmic issues,
movements of the planets, and who knows what else.
The other day, while preparing for this talk,
I went on Google and I searched “How to make the most of your time?”
And the classic articles found in magazines came up.
“How to take advantage of your time in five steps”,
“Eight things you need to know”, “Five pieces of advice.”
But is there actually a method to making the most of it?
Time is relative, time is personal,
time is generational.
How many times did your parents tell you
not to waste time on your phone,
while you were lying on the sofa,
organizing your holiday with your friends?
Is this a waste of time to you?
Is snooping into others’ Instagram profiles
or watching videos about kittens on Facebook a waste of time?
In our grandparents’ opinion, it is.
At our age they had different priorities, more concrete ones perhaps.
Such as starting a family, finding a god job,
building their own house, and, why not, buying a nice car.
Nowadays, we have more transient priorities, maybe.
Such as where to go on a Saturday night,
not being cheated on by boyfriends or girlfriends,
going on beach holidays just so we can share stories on Instagram.
We belong to Generation Z, we are the ones who are always connected,
we are not interested in politics, we are always unhappy, superficial.
But, maybe as a result of this constant connection
we have acquired a lot of knowledge, perhaps involuntarily.
Back to our grandparents, when they had to study a subject,
or read to learn something, they needed to spend
the whole evening, the whole afternoon,
with books, magazines and notebooks.
Now we just need to watch a tutorial, a bunch of posts and listen to a podcast.
Is the result the same?
If I could give my younger self a piece of advice, that would be:
Don’t let definitions limit you.
Don’t allow the opinions of others to become your biography.
And also stop defining others.
There is no big and small, no winners and losers.
There is just us, you.
Always, every day, choose who you really are,
and be yourself.
Time is there to teach us,
and also to help us adjust our approach.
Over time, things work out.
Time also plays a fundamental role when it comes to wine.
Like wine, we mature, we start off so so,
then, over time, perhaps we improve.
Teachers do with us what enologists do with wine,
they make us grow, they make us change.
Take a glass, an ordinary flute.
When we pour wine into it,
all the bubbles slowly rise to the surface.
Each one in its own time, each one in its own way.
We do the same throughout our lives,
but also day to day.
We just need to seize the moment, keep our eye on the ball.
Does making the most of our time at work benefit us?
Does it benefit us in life?
Well, maybe it does.
In love, we have lost something over time.
We have switched from serenading someone
to WhatsApp texts with heart emojis.
In our jobs, we have probably lost the practical aspect,
sometimes, not in every job.
We have switched from manual labour to remote working.
Is the result the same?
Our society is victim of a huge misunderstanding.
We confuse seizing the day with expecting everything at once.
However, we probably need to stop
and practice patience.
I think I will give another piece of advice
to those who are here, and those who are not.
From time to time let’s stop and look through our grandparents’ eyes,
to see what we can see,
what perspective we can have.
Maybe, after putting things together, we can reach perfect time management.
Thanks.
(Applause)