Disclaimer: This post is with reference to people of my age group or somewhere close, so if you're 4 years old or 35 years, the thoughts might not apply to you. But then again, I'm not preaching. So sure, go ahead read.

Holidays. Now it is a relative term is'nt it? The word "plan" is almost synonomous with holidays. The moment we declare to someone that we have our holidays going on, they just HAVE to ask "So, what are your plans". They just HAVE to know.
Something is always expected to be done. Free time, is meant to be utilised meaningfully and efficiently. Why? Because otherwise its wasting time.Why? Because this time will not come again.
So everytime we(or atleast me) get a long break, we make up a list in our head, as to what to do this time. We feel that now, since we have holidays, we can do so many things, because we're FREE(do you see whats happening?). You feel you are free, because you have holidays, as though the rest of the time you were religiously doing your work like a Subba Rao.
Subba Rao is defined as the every day office going sincere guy, now this classic definition was given by my friends on Orkut

Ok! So now you have this list of a thousand(am I exaggerating? Really?) things in your head, that need to be DONE. Things like shedding the extra fat. Watching "tons" of movies, visiting places,reading.

Now lets face it. How many of us actually end up doing this? Yeah, some of you feel we make excellent use of our time. Congrats you are one amongst a very very, trust me on this one, VERY small community(hey when I said "feel", I hope you actually mean, otherwise I sleep whole day and say that I made excellent use of my day). Its virtually impossible to make "excellent" use of one's time. Its just not done. Yeah, we often hear things such as, "focus", "dedication", "commitment". Most of the time we arent that focussed. We're focussed to some extent, but not to our full potential. Now we shouldnt be surprised at this. The science students, who have studied basic physics, know that the "ideal" scenario doesnt exist. There IS no perfect machine, there IS no perfect fuel, there IS no perfect presidential candidate(obviously in INDIA, the president can't do much, so he should just wear a name tag saying "hello, I love peanuts"). Hence, we can safely assume that there is no perfect brain, which can utilise all the time it has got. Hence perfection is a relative term used to signify who is the least dumbest, or who is the least wrong, or who is the least boring amongst a group of people.

Coming back to time management, the strange thing is that when we dont have holidays, most of us are actually more focussed than when we have holidays. Now this is simple enough right? So what does it tell us? WHEN YOUR ASS IS ON FIRE, YOUR GOD DAMN EFFICIENCY INCREASES. Obviously according to the second law of thermodynamics, the efficiency will not be cent per cent, but oh well.

Its because we're so excited to do so many things, we actually forget the essence of it. We read a novel, because we feel its something interesting, not becase we have to just read it. We have to lose weight because we want to get back in shape because it gives us confidence, so quit imagining yourself getting laid by Tera Patrick. So one reason is because the whole aim of getting a job done is lost.
Another reason why things seldom get done is becase we dont have proper guidance. Trying to teach ones self the computer language C
from a book takes time. You're much likely to complete the course(leave alone being fairly decent in it), if you learn it from some institute under proper guidance. You're definetely much more likely to shed those extra pounds if you enroll yourself in a proper gym with guys to train you there, rather than just go to the gym and pretty much fool around with the machines there and ending up seriously messing up that fragile body of yours.
Another addition to the list of distraction and probably the one that is potentially the most perilious of them all is the Internet. Yes, the internet is an ocean of knowledge, a treasure house and atmosphere of intellect, Ok now for the reality: How many of you log on to the net with the intention, "Today I am going to learn something new and useful, because the internet is a powerful advantage that I possess and must use it wisely."??
My point exactly.
Yahoo messenger, Orkut, Hi5, You tube. Damn!
I wanted to read so many books this summer, managed to read a few: The Fountainhead, Freakonomics, works of Khushwanth Singh and few other disappointing starts.
After watching Tom Dick and Harry, I had vowed not to watch the rubbish being made in bollywood for the rest of my holidays, and will dedicate myself towards experiencing classics(indian and western).
As of now I've seen Fanaa, Gangster, Krrish, Superman Returns and The Angrez(The Angrez has to be one of the FUNNIEST movies ever made).
Classics: zilch
I wanted to travel, visit pune, bangalore and whole lot of other places. Finally all saw was Jammu and Delhi, the hottest places to be in summer. Ok the jammu trip was more of a compulsion but every bit worth it. Getting to meet cousins is a good compensation for getting your ass burnt at 44 degrees.
A lot of time was spent Orkutting, Instant Messaging, hanging out with friends, driving lessons(ok not much just an hour a day), talking on the phone.

The guilt of not doing much in the holidays was overshadowed by the joy I got in spending time with my near ones. In the end, what matters is how you look at things.