Your mom tells you to fix your bag strap whose stitches are coming undone from the sides.

You say that you’ll fix it in the evening. 

She reminds you again in the evening but you’ve already sat down to complete your homework. As soon as you’re done with the homework, you go for a walk and by the time you come back, the bag strap is long forgotten.

The strap remains forgotten, until you are on your way back home from school and you grab your bag by the strap but the only thing that comes in your hand is the strap.

We all have this tendency to overlook small things that demand attention, which go on to become huge issues that demand immediate attention.

I, too, have taken part in such tomfoolery and am still bearing its consequences. 

(I have no idea why I feel the need to share personal things that make me look dumb but I do it every time and here I am again)

In 11th grade, I did not memorise trigonometric identities (mind you, they’re pretty important for 12th grade). For some unknown reason, I did not understand its importance and here I am regretting it.

Now not only do I have to memorise those identities, but I have to memorise them in a small time frame, along with the formulas for class 12.

As you can see, I’m in big trouble.

While I was practicing the formulas yesterday and reflecting on how deep of a trouble am I in, my mind drifted to the saying, “A stitch in time saves nine.”

And boy, have I ever heard a truer saying.

The phrase expresses that if you sort out a problem immediately it may save a lot of extra work later.

This does make a lot of sense because the amount of effort you would’ve to put initially would just be a fraction of the work you would put if you delay the action. Besides, when you act upon it later, more often than not you’re under stress caused by the magnitude of the situation. This wouldn’t be the case if the problem was handled when it came up. 

Uprooting a weed is easy, but if that weed turns into a tree, uprooting it is next to impossible.

It’s the secret to doing just half of your work. Do it right the first time it comes to you and you won’t need to go back to it again or correct it.

A few places you could put this saying to use:

• Getting things and objects fixed
• Learning things in the first go
• Cleaning things
• Getting pains and aches checked (my mom hurt her toes and when the pain wouldn’t go away even after 10 days, she decided to get it checked. Turns out she had fractured her little toe)
• Completing homework and assignments

Recap for memory:

1. Overlooking small things that demand attention can turn them into huge issues that demand immediate attention
2. Looking in a problem that very moment saves time, effort and stress
3. The secret to doing just half of your work – Do it right the first time

P. S. Doing things right the first time does not mean that the work needs to be perfect and you have to put all your focus on making it ‘the best’. Trying to make things perfect results in getting nothing done. Doing it right means there isn’t an issue in it that you’re aware of, yet you have overlooked.