The saying "to shelve", as everyone probably knows, means "to delay the decision of some matter for a long time." But what kind of box it is and why it is long, probably not everyone knows.
However, among philologists on this issue, too, there is a significant disagreement. To this day, three options for the origin of our saying have been proposed.
According to one version, this is a primordially Russian turnover, which appeared during the reign of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, father of Peter I. And it is allegedly associated with the custom of filing petitions. Prior to the accession of Alexei Mikhailovich, petitions addressed to the royal name were left on the tombs of the royal ancestors in the Archangel Cathedral. But Alexei Mikhailovich liked to live not in the Kremlin, but in his beloved village of Kolomenskoye, where he ordered to put a long, or “long” box for petitions (long and long in Russian are synonymous words). This box was quite roomy, and until it was completely filled, complaints were not taken away. And then the boyars and duma clerks considered the petitions for a long time. So lowering the petitions into the royal box acquired a figurative meaning - "pull the case."
It is difficult, however, to vouch for the accuracy of this explanation: after all, we are talking about “shelving”, and not “lowering” and not “putting down”. And there is no exact historical justification for this legend. Therefore, other scholars believe that the “long drawer” was a desk drawer in the first Russian offices, where complaints were put aside that did not require a quick response, or did not arouse the desire of officials to consider them.
However, there are several arguments against this version. Firstly, the turnover “to shelve” appeared only in the middle of the 18th century. Secondly, it occurs exclusively in the literary language and, thirdly, it retains the same form. These features characterize the so-called calques (philologists use this term to denote literal borrowings from other languages). Thus, our turn, most likely, is a tracing paper from the German etwas in die lange Truhe legen (put something in a long chest). Recall that it was at the beginning of the 18th century that the Germans poured into Russia in droves.
Indeed, in the buildings of the German courts there were large long lari-lockers where court cases were put; however, they were used as benches. The cases of rich and noble plaintiffs, of course, were resolved quickly, and the cases of the poor were put aside by court officials at the farthest end of the locker-bench - "on the back burner." By the way, in the 18th century a more modern version appeared: etwas auf die lange Bank schieben, literally - to move something to a long bench.
So, the expression “put it on the back burner” is probably taken from the everyday life of the German bureaucracy of the New Age (which, however, was not much different from ours, which is why the ill-fated box took root on Russian soil).
And the Russian analogue of this foreign expression is “put under the cloth ". It does not require any special explanation.
Like many phraseological units, the expression "to shelve", meaning to delay something for a long period of time, has an ambiguous origin.
It is likely that this phraseological unit originates during the reign of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich Romanov, nicknamed "The Quietest", by whose order a long box for the so-called petitions was installed in the village of Kolomenskoye (the Tsar's favorite residence) next to his palace.
Any person could leave a message to the king in this box with a complaint or request. Complaints were taken only after the full filling of this capacious box. Then the messages were considered for a long time by clerks and boyars. And in Russian the word "long" means "long". So it turns out that in order to submit a petition, you need to "put it on the back burner." But still, we say: "put it on the back burner", and not "put it".
Therefore, other philologists believe that the origin of the "long box" lies in the nineteenth century. At that time, various petitions, complaints and requests to sort were accepted. So the officials laid out the submitted papers in different boxes. Cases that did not require a quick decision or simply did not want to be considered were put away in a desk drawer, which could be called "long".
But it is also possible that the phrase "to shelve" came into Russian from the German language: etwas in die lange Truhe legen, meaning "to put something in a long chest." Indeed, in the eighteenth century, large and long chests for storing court papers really stood in German courts. So, the affairs of the poor, in contrast to the nobility, whose affairs were resolved very quickly, were stored and awaited their "star" hour in the farthest chest: well, why not a "long box".
In the end, I would like to note that the meaning of the last two versions is very well suited to another phraseological expression "put under the cloth", because bureaucratic tables in public institutions basically covered with cloth.
Photo: Katarina Gondova/Rusmediabank.ru
“Long box”, that is, postponing something important for tomorrow, is not only the killer of your dreams, it can literally become a killer. And your health, and relationships, and career, and family, sometimes life itself. If you don't shorten your backlog immediately, blame yourself!What are we postponing?
Yes all! We only do what we put off.money for a future purchase;
using a new thing until an opportunity;
Mondays starting from new life;
fitness, sports, outdoor activities;
walks;
learning languages;
serious relationship;
birth of children;
going to the zoo with them;
cleaning, washing, washing dishes, routine, unpleasant work;
clarification of relationships and setting all dots over i;
completion of the started cases;
repair;
call mom, dad, friend;
confession and communion;
;
forgiveness;
declaration of love.
You can list indefinitely, and everyone will have their own list. And meanwhile, in this list all our life! As a rule, we put aside what is important. In one way or another, this is exactly what determines our future.
Why are we postponing?
Now let's think about why we do this. Perhaps this will help us overcome the consequences of postponing important things, that is, by and large, postponing our own life, for which, as we know, we only have one chance.Why?
1. We are tired of the routine, boring, unpleasant side of these affairs.
2. Sometimes the quick achievability of the result scares. “We’ll redo everything today, there will be nothing left for tomorrow.”
3. Fear of failure is very scary from completing things, especially if they are really difficult. “What if it doesn’t work out?” - a powerful brake that makes us put off the fateful things for us.
4. We are just too lazy.
5. Lost interest and no incentive to keep going.
6. It seems to us that efforts are in vain. The futility of effort kills initiative. If we do not have success, victories, it is extremely difficult to complete things, because they look meaningless.
7. It seems to us that the time has not yet come. Everything is ahead or we are not yet ready for the final stage.
The consequences of postponing
It would seem that there is no danger here, well, a person puts off his life, let him do what he wants. This is his own business. It turns out not always. Sometimes someone's postponing leads to family quarrels, conflicts, stressful situations, and innocent people fall into the radius of action.And the child understands that the work that has been started must be completed in order to move forward. But in life, we come up with thousands of excuses and reasons that help us cope with our own dishonesty and guilt for unfulfilled deeds.
We resort to murderous arguments like
- lack of time, money, strength, means, desire, incentives, etc.;
- irrelevance of the case in this moment, there are more important things, now is inconvenient, not the time, out of place;
- interference from loved ones, relatives, friends and enemies, circumstances.
But our excuses only accumulate, turning into a snowball that inexorably moves towards us and threatens to crush us with the whole mass of unfinished plans and unfulfilled expectations.
And then we begin
get nervous and freak out;to make mistakes;
hurry;
freeze off;
run away, etc.
And we are overtaken
- migraine;
– stress;
- self-doubt;
- diseases;
- quarrels, reproaches, criticism;
- conflicts, breaks and even divorces.
Do you still think that family quarrels have nothing to do with procrastination? Look at your life with an open mind and as critically as possible. And you will find that
the faucets are flowing;
the dishes are moldy in the sink;
linen does not wash itself;
the dust under the bed turns inexorably into snowdrifts;
"madame sitting" without fitness and with getting wider and wider;
hair and face without care turn into a washcloth and washboard;
mother, whom no one calls, becomes lonely and unhappy;
the dog yearns without walking;
life slowly but surely slips into a swamp of routine and boredom (without travel, walks, a child, new meetings).
This is a catastrophe! We urgently need to change something!
How to get rid of unfinished business?
There is an exit.You can conduct an audit and select those without the completion of which it is impossible to live on.
And immediately, just this very second, proceed to complete them. Not on Monday, not tomorrow, but just now. One per hour, per day, per week. And there you look, and there will be no unfinished business.
The rest of the less important things should probably just be forgotten. Cross them off the unfinished list. Consider that they are already completed. If you haven't finished them yet, then you don't really need them.
We must always remember that unfinished business is like unfinished gestalt and constantly stops our progress. We are not able to start new things until the old ones are completed. Do not pour into a full cup of water.
Therefore, obeying the law of filling voids, we should periodically sort out our rubble and make room for new good undertakings and deeds. This is especially true on New Year's Eve, but you can find any other occasion - New Year according to the Eastern calendar, new month, birthday, even, no matter how trite, Monday. And the vacated place will be occupied by new, interesting and so necessary undertakings.
Unpress administrator | nineteen October 2018
PERCHATKIN ALEXANDER
FOREST TOWN
MY ARTICLE:
Some phraseological units occur in a certain historical era. Where did the phrase "put it on the back burner" came about? It happened during the reign of Alexei Mikhailovich. Any person could put a message to the king in this box with a complaint or request. Complaints were taken only after the full filling of this capacious box. Then the messages were considered for a long time by clerks and boyars.
But there is also a play on the meanings of the adjectives "long" and "long". The point is not only in the shape of the box, but also in the fact that, turning to the king, the petitioners hoped for a fair and honest consideration of complaints, counted on the fact that evil, oppression and lawlessness would be punished, and the court would make the right decision. However, cases from long (long) boxes were unfairly rarely considered or waited in the wings for a long time. And most often it was not possible for ordinary people to hear a fair, truthful verdict. They put their complaints on the back burner and forgot or did not begin to understand at all. It is senseless to expect the triumph of truth and legality.
Also, many philologists believe that the expression "put things on the back burner" appeared in Germany. Indeed, the phrase “etwas in eine lange Brust setzen” still lives in the German people, meaning “put something in a long chest”. Indeed, in the eighteenth century, large and long chests for storing court papers stood in German courts. So, the affairs of the poor, in contrast to the nobility, whose affairs were resolved very quickly, were kept and were waiting for their "finest" hour. Well, why not a long box?
I can assume that similar historical forms implied the appearance of phraseological units that are close in meaning.
Phraseologisms also do not bypass me. Once I returned from school on Friday in a wonderful mood: ahead of the weekend! I thought: “Maybe I’ll learn my lessons right away?”. But this thought quickly disappeared, being replaced by another one: “We will have time…”. I unpacked my briefcase, took out my textbooks and notebooks, put them in my desk drawer and slammed it shut with pleasure. Rest, textbooks, and I will rest!
On Sunday evening, my mother reminded me that I had school tomorrow and asked me to pack my portfolio without forgetting anything. Well, textbooks, notebooks and a diary were taken out of the desk drawer. I didn’t want to, but I still looked into the diary to make sure that nothing was asked for the weekend. But it was not there! I completely forgot that in Russian we had to write an essay on phraseological units. I got the phraseological turn "to put the matter on the back burner." I read the topic again and thought: “Can a box be long? It can be rectangular, square, narrow, wide... But long? Perhaps I spelled the subject wrong. Okay, I’ll clarify tomorrow, today it’s too late, and there’s absolutely no need to think about the power box. Sleep, because everyone knows the wonderful proverb: "The morning is wiser than the evening." Think about it in the morning! Before going to bed, all the events of an interesting weekend flashed before my eyes, and I fell asleep sweetly.
And it was like that. At the Russian language lesson, all the children took turns reading written essays. Kolya wrote very well about how the bucks are beaten, Nastya read about how harmful it is to count crows, Petya - about how you can’t break in the door. When it was my turn, I explained that I had not written the essay, because, probably, I had written the topic incorrectly. After all, the box can't be long?!
Elena Borisovna asked for my diary and sent me to the school library for phraseological dictionary. And then I started reading aloud the entry from the dictionary. It turns out that the expression "to shelve the case" means "to postpone the case for an indefinitely long time."
And a difficult Monday ended with the fact that, having returned home, I took out my textbooks, notebooks and put them all in the same long drawer.
The study of phraseological units, the reasons for their appearance, semantics, shades of their use - all this gives food to the mind, develops horizons, enriches speech.
Mental disorder or just promiscuity?
“Procrastination” (the habit of procrastination) is translated from Latin as “for tomorrow”. And there are other synonyms: to procrastinate, to linger, to dig, to take time, to drag, to delay, to delay, to slow down, to tinker, to play for time, to shelve .... I will deliberately not use the buzzword “procrastination” in this text. In Western psychology, it is used to define the phenomenon of laziness in general. But laziness is wider, more complex and multifaceted than just postponing things for later.
Psychologists argue about the nature of procrastination. Some consider it a mental disorder, others - personal promiscuity. In the late 90s, the press even reported that it is transmitted with genes and, in principle, is incurable. But as a psychologist, it seems to me that scientists take such a natural human tendency to put off unpleasant things until later, too seriously.
You can play for time in different ways: do not start it; make no decision to start; start and quit; do many things at the same time, not finishing any of them; do many other things without touching the main thing, etc.
Here's what my survey participants said:
L. says:
“My husband, when the need to make any decision that requires further action is imminent, first ignores the problem for as long as possible, and then (under my pressure) gives out his sacramental: “We need to think!”. That's what he said when I asked to buy it. washing machine. A month later, I made a new request and heard: “We need to decide which model to choose.” Another 3-4 months passed ... And only when I threatened that I would now go to a nearby (not the best) store and poke my finger at the most expensive typewriter, my husband got scared. In the evening, I already washed in a brand new washing machine.
K says:
“I never do anything unless absolutely necessary. I won't take out the trash until it's poured out of the bucket. I will not buy groceries as long as there is at least something edible in the house. Etc. Of course, if they insistently ask, I do it. And this does not apply to interests and hobbies, of course. At work, measured work is not for me. Relaxation, and then maximum concentration - that's my style. And, in general, I succeed. ”
Reasons for bad habits
And yet the habit of wasting time is a serious problem for many people, preventing them from living a full life, working efficiently and enjoying both work and leisure. What causes it? Here are just some of the reasons:
* inability to plan time;
* inability to concentrate;
* constant feeling of anxiety or fear;
* depression;
* self-doubt;
* financial difficulties;
* troubles in the family;
* unrealistic expectations and hopes;
* perfectionism;
* fear of failure;
* fear of change;
* protest against rules and deadlines imposed from above;
Fried Rooster as a method
About those who always put everything off until later, they often say: "pulling rubber." One very important property of procrastination is noticed here - the accumulation of tension. The longer you pull - rubber or time - the more it becomes. The outcome may be twofold. On the one hand, a stone thrown from a slingshot receives energy for flight only when the rubber is properly stretched. A person who is not in a hurry to get to work is waiting for such an impulse. When the deadlines are pressed to the limit, there will be negligible time left, he feels a surge of strength and is able to fully concentrate on work (the people also say: “the roasted rooster has pecked”). On the other hand, if the rubber is pulled too long, it may burst. Storming - not The best way completing tasks, and sleepless nights are not the best time for this.
Scientists from the Center for the Study of Procrastination at Carton University (Canada), having studied several hundred students, came to the conclusion that young people who tend to put off studying until later are more likely to catch colds, sleep less, eat malnutrition, smoke and drink more. And the results of night vigils over textbooks, as a rule, are not the best.
Psychology of saints
So what to do?
In the Fatherland (stories about the holy fathers) there is such a parable: “One man had land, which, due to his negligence, turned into barren, overgrown with weeds. It took him to cultivate it, and he said to his son: "Go, clear our field." The son went, but when he saw that it was overgrown with weeds, he lost heart and said to himself: “Will I ever eradicate all these weeds and clean the land?” With these words, he lay down on the ground and fell asleep; so he did for many days. Then the father came to see what had been done, and saw that nothing had been done. He said to his son, "Why haven't you done anything yet?" The son replied: "I saw how many weeds, and refused to work." And my father said: “If every day you worked at least such a piece of land as you occupy, lying on it, then your work would gradually move forward.” The young man acted on the instructions of his father, and in a short time the field was cleared and cultivated.
The holy fathers also knew about procrastination and developed their recipes to combat it. Here, for example, is the advice given by Nicodemus the Holy Mountaineer in the book Invisible Warfare.
He noted that the longer the matter is postponed, the more difficult it seems and advises: “Do not hesitate to start any business that you have to do, because the first short delay will lead you to the second, longer, and the second to the third, even more long, and so on. From this, the work begins too late and ... or is completely left as burdensome ... Not only during labor, but even when it is still far ahead, you will feel as if you have a mountain on your shoulders, you will be weighed down by this and suffer, like slaves, in hopeless slavery consisting. So also during rest you will not have rest, and without work you will feel burdened with work.
In order to overcome negligence, the Monk Nikodim offers ... to deceive him, breaking the case into small blocks and taking breaks.
“If, for example, an hour of prayerful labor is required to perform any part of the service, and this seems difficult for your laziness, then when you start this, do not think that you will have to stand for an hour, but imagine that this will continue for some quarter of an hour. , and you will stand unnoticed, praying this quarter; having stood this, say to yourself: we will stand for another quarter, this is not much, as you see; then do the same for the third and fourth quarters; and you will finish this work of prayer ministry without noticing the difficulties and hardships ... Do the same in relation to work, and to the deeds of your obedience.
Often we cannot start work, because we are overwhelmed with deeds and not knowing where to start, we fall into a stupor: “But do not think about this multitude of deeds,” writes St. Nicodemus, “but reluctantly take up the first presenting and do it with all diligence, as if there were no others at all, and you will do it calmly; then act in the same way in relation to other matters and you will redo everything calmly, without confusion and troubles.
For those who want to improve
Here is a list of tips for those who are prone to the habit of procrastination.
- Remember what things - really important - you have been putting off for many years? Just don't say the first thing that comes to your mind. Your reluctance to start fulfilling them is so great that the subconscious will obligingly provide you with any business other than these - really important ones. So you have to properly analyze your own life.
- Think about why you don’t want to start this activity. This requires honesty with oneself and, if you like, courage. Perhaps they are associated with pain or other discomfort. We do not always realize this ourselves, but subconsciously we strive to avoid pain. But to find out the reasons for the reluctance to take on something is necessary. Having found the roots of the problem, we are halfway to solving it.
Think about what positive changes will happen when you finally do these things.
- Try to calculate how you pay for inaction? Imagine how your life would have turned if you hadn’t put off certain unpleasant, but important things in due time. What would be your health, level of education, position, marital status now? ..
- Keep in mind that we often inspire ourselves with an attitude towards the upcoming work (“What a tedious task I got!”) Or the one who entrusted it (“The boss always entrusts me with the most hopeless projects! He hates me!”). Having been uttered several times, this phrase becomes our firm conviction. And, painfully forcing ourselves to sit down to work, we are already struggling with our own emotions, which we ourselves have just inspired. Try to avoid such thoughts next time.
- Get a diary. At least 30% of all those who like to postpone it helps. Enter there not only a to-do list, but also - which is very important - the results achieved.
Once you have received the task, decide when you intend to start its implementation. Now or later? If the latter, mark the date in your diary.
- Analyze your feelings and thoughts. When is the moment when you want to postpone work indefinitely? As soon as you feel the first lazy urges, immediately tell yourself loudly and clearly: “Stop!” To be sure, you can even pinch yourself.
- The main thing is to start, to overcome inertia - then things will go much more fun. After all, you have already taken off the ground - and now you just need to fly, perhaps even enjoying the flight.
Promise yourself some small but nice reward before starting work. The main thing is that it should be planned. You don't go out for coffee and quit your job halfway through. You will do half the work - and after that you will allow yourself a coffee break. Feel the difference?
- Start the job with the simplest and easiest. Let the first stage be very small.
- Break the work day into blocks. The one who works without getting up for 2-3 hours achieves less than the one who allows himself a 10-minute break every hour. If you can't bring yourself to get to work, break it down into tiny, five-minute blocks. Most likely, when you get down to business, you will find that you are involved, and after five minutes you will be sorry to quit what you started.
— If it's a big project, once you start working on it, don't stop. Even on days filled with other things, devote at least half an hour to working on it, and if not possible, then 10 minutes. So you will not lose the acceleration received at the start. And stop - you have to dial it again.
So, as you can see, there are many ways to deal with the habit of postponing things for later. If you decide to use them, remember the most important advice: start acting today, this minute, and not from Monday.
