Time flies. Before we know it we will be in 2012 and I have yet to start the projects I had planned this year.

I had this list of things I always wanted to do — places I wished to visit, people I wanted to befriend — but now I can see why I couldn't do those things: it is because of the ‘Bukra syndrome'.

Bukra, as you know, is Arabic for ‘a tomorrow that never comes'. Like in, "When do you think this will be done"? Me: "Bukra, Insha'allah. Tomorrow, God Willing."

It is similar to the Spanish word manana, again meaning ‘a tomorrow that is indefinite'. That word is used specially at siesta time, that time in the afternoon when people wish to get rid of you.

In Hyderabad, my hometown in south India, kal, or ‘tomorrow' is a dreaded word. You go to this decrepit government office on a sultry afternoon. A man, wearing a khaki uniform is dozing on a stool, while a fan overhead slowly stirs up the heated air.

You, an eager NRI (non-resident Indian) from Dubai, who has this great idea which will benefit thousands: "Is the file ready? The dozing overlord: ‘Kal'.

Hyderabadis also have a tendency to describe things that happened in the past, years ago, as ‘day before yesterday', or purson. You may have submitted your project file for approval eight weeks ago, but for everyone else in the government office it is as if it happened just the other day.

There's no point in blaming others when things don't get done, when the problem is with you, say time management experts and psychologists. These so-called experts always point the finger at me for some reason and mouth silly cliches like ‘procrastination is the thief of time'.

Everyone else knows that creative people like journalists need to procrastinate. It's not exactly called procrastination, but we use words like ‘cooking'. to describe why we wait for things to happen. I am not sure why we use this metaphor to describe what we do, but this is how it goes: So, how's the investigative report on why expats can't go home coming along? Me: "It is still cooking."

Fresh start

Experts also say that New Year's resolutions are most certain to fail as you get into the mood for a fresh start when you see brand new days ahead of you and come up with an impossible list like this: give up eating pizza, give up sleeping in on Fridays, give up texting while driving, give up taking the Salik route.

Here are the top 10 resolutions of most other people, according to about.com: Spend more time with family and friends. Fit in fitness time. Tame the bulge. Quit smoking. Enjoy life more. Quit drinking. Get out of debt. Learn something new. Help others. Get organised.

Speaking about taming the bulge, this is what Jay Leno, top American stand-up comedian and TV host has to say: Now there are more overweight people in America than average-weight people. So overweight people are now average … which means, you have achieved your New Year's resolution.

A Canadian psychologist believes that New Year's resolutions are a form of "cultural procrastination' as we try to make an effort to reinvent ourselves.

People make resolutions as a way of motivating themselves, he says. But people are usually not ready to change their habits, especially bad habits, and that accounts for the high failure rate.

Maybe he is right. When we started the Gulf News Quit Smoking campaign we found that people wanted to stop smoking but could not because their brain told them that getting that nicotine up into their lungs was sooo good!

Maybe they need someone to nag them, something which my wife is good at.