Divide and Conquer?
HAVANA TIMES – My daily life often lines up like a giant puzzle I can’t solve, even though I try. The pieces get lost, or some get confused with others, and when I finally manage to put one in place, another has moved around. At the end of the day I straighten the sheets, lie down, and push the puzzle board away with the hope that the dawn will bring some solution, not more unexpected pieces.
How many times have I thought or said: “I have a lot of things to do?” And how many of them have made me feel good? It’s clear that we human beings aren’t multitaskers – we can only focus on one job at a time.
Is there a viable way to avoid having my wishes and obligations interfere with each other? In the face of this disconnect, I decided to investigate. I’m not one of those who arranges their lives through self-help pamphlets, except that this dilemma is wearing me out.
Up until now, I’ve learned to manage my problems without the help of third persons. My problems are neither easy nor difficult; nor are they large or small; it’s just that it takes me more or less time to solve them, according to their complexity.
However, during my entire life, I’ve often been involved in pastimes and work that have little to do with each other. I like theater, painting, movies, and music. I like reading all the literary genres, and I like writing. I also enjoy walking along the edge of the sea, swimming in a river, spending time with my friends, watching drama series with my husband, drawing with my daughter, etc.
I’ve worked as an art instructor, a painting teacher, an art gallery specialist, a statistician in an agricultural marketing company, and an independent artist. I’ve sold rag dolls I made myself, key chains, teddy bears; I’ve worked as a diarist for Havana Times. I’ve been a salesperson in a small business, a housewife and the co-owner of a small aquarium shop.
If the hours of my day stretched further, I’d do more of the things I like, and more that I don’t like, if the latter served to assure my daughter’s wellbeing. However, the days aren’t composed of an unlimited number of hours, I don’t have unlimited energy, and – even though I’d like to – I can’t do everything that pops into my head.
The secret for getting ahead is to start. The secret to starting is to divide the complex tasks that seem overwhelming into small manageable tasks, and then begin with the first one.” These words from Mark Twain led me to another, more ancient, Latin phrase attributed to Julius Cesar: “Divide et Impera.” The approximate translation into Spanish would be either: “Divide and rule,” or “Divide and conquer.”
The concept refers to a strategy of breaking up the existing power structures and avoiding any ties between the smaller centers of power. However, it could be applied to all spheres where it’s necessary or advantageous to break up or divide the obstacles to a solution, in order to obtain a better result.
According to my research, in life and in every project that we take on, a basic strategy for reaching success is to divide the larger problem into smaller ones. This idea can be applied effectively to different areas. It’s here where the apparently simple concept of dividing the large problem into smaller ones enters into play.
So, okay, I understand that – in theory – this can work. Except that my problem is time, and it’s impossible to fragment that any further. Hence, with my spirit at a low ebb, I encountered another point of view in the blog of my childhood friend.
Reading her piece, I discovered that we share the same restlessness, except that her experiences, adventures, and obligations are those of an immigrant who arrived in the United States 23 years ago. Mine, on the other hand, are those of a Cuban woman who’s been anchored to this island for 41 years.
She thinks that grouping tasks is more viable than dividing them up. Combining some of those passions and jobs in such a way that it’s not necessary to divide up the time, but to invest it in a certain way so that one area feeds the other.
In order to put this personal experiment to the test, she bought a journal and wrote down certain goals that she wants to meet most days of the week. I don’t know the final result of this project, but in honor of the many years we shared together, and the things we learned from each other, I decided to join in on this idea.
I’ve pulled out a journal that I tucked away years ago. Under today’s date, I’m writing the tasks, except that instead of dividing them, I’m grouping them. I just hope that by day’s end, there’ll be a checkmark beside every one of the objectives, indicating that it’s “done.”