So often, I feel like there’s not enough time. It’s the one factor that constantly looms over my head staying pretty much at the forefront of my mind especially now during “quarantine”. I check the time when I wake up and calculate how much sleep I think I got that night. I berate myself if I wake up past my target hour which sets me up to believe I can’t have a productive day.
Between and during my daily activities, I check the time and gauge where I’m at. Am I using my time effectively? Am I wasting time? I always feel behind and by the time I go to bed, I’m tired, but it’s difficult to get to sleep because I’m thinking of all the things I didn’t get done during the day when I should have had time to do them. Then, the vicious cycle repeats. Every now and then, I freak out about how old I am and where I am in my life, and if I’m doing enough with the time I have left.
If this sounds familiar to you, then know you’re not alone. Although that may not give you much solace, the rest of this blog is intended to be helpful and optimistic. Please keep on reading.
Why do we care so much about time?
First, a little background on our modern concept of time will help us to understand the role it’s playing in our lives. If you’re American like me, you live in a society that is time-based and where time is related to progress.
Thanks to the Industrial Revolution where showing up to a factory job on time or having a train with people or goods arrive on schedule meant prosperity, progress, and therefore “happiness”. Paying attention to time then became important. Alarm clocks became popular due to this rigid schedule of work and have since become a part of our daily lives. These alarms keep us to a schedule because our time is seen as valuable and timeliness as an important quality.
Learn how to sleep better and wake up feeling refreshed and even how to “break-up” with your alarm clock in my related Getting Your Sleep Matters: Sleep Better, Live Happier post.
We, as a society, are so focused on the time that we often discuss how to be more productive. We invent technology that is supposed to save us time which has always been ironic. How many articles out there are about productivity? Haven’t you heard the saying “time equals money”? Because the relationship between time and progress is so strong in this modern world, it can put pressure on each of us to pay too much attention to time.
Tick tock, tick-tock. “I’m late, I’m late! For a very important date!” The White Rabbit exclaimed.
Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland
Time Doesn’t Have to be Our Enemy
How do you deal with something that is so intertwined into the fabric of our society? Well, the worst thing to do would be to ignore it as with any problem. To continue with your head down trying to fill your time with endless tasks or meaningless episodes of a never-ending soap opera (don’t let yourself binge watch Netflix too often), one day, you’ll look up and wonder how you got there and you could feel like you wasted your life away in a trance.
Now, to some, this might not sound so bad but I believe it’s important to face the music so to speak, and focus on making your reality better than your dreams.
Inventions to save time
One approach for dealing with lack of time has been to invent technology and methods to save time but this can be ironic. You sadly can’t “save time”- you can only use what time you have and looking at the history of time-saving devices shows us this.
Washing machines were supposed to save people time so they didn’t have to spend hours hand-washing their clothing. And yes, now people have an hour or so free because the washing machine is doing its job but what’s done with that time? It’s filled with something.
There is an argument that we are busier than ever and in a way that’s true. We fit so much into a day compared to our ancestors. We fill it and still feel like we don’t have enough hours in the day.
So, clearly, just coming up with time-saving devices, fighting to get back a minute or an hour of our day, is not allowing us to really appreciate the extra time. We cannot create more time – we can only use the time we have.
So, what happens when we start to work with time?
Start Living in a Timeless Way
Time moves forward whether we like it or not. It is our most valuable resource. Unfortunately, we don’t even know how much of this resource we have. (Or maybe it’s fortunate that we don’t know. Imagine knowing how long or short our future is – that would be stressful.)
Therefore, it’s important to treat time as preciously as possible. When you spend time with someone or spend time doing something, you are giving someone or something your most valuable asset. If you start respecting your time as a valuable resource, you’ll find that how you spend your time will change.
Often, it is said that successful people who manage a business or multiple positions are very careful with how they spend their time. Take a moment to place yourself in the future and look back at what you are doing presently.
Will what you’re doing now matter in a couple of months or years? If the answer is no, then maybe this is not how you should be spending your time. Adjust and then do something with your time that is valuable to you now and possibly your future.
Set important tasks at the beginning of your day
Set your most important tasks toward the beginning of the day rather than the end. Try not to over-schedule yourself or put a lot of short tasks on your to-do list. Be careful with the number of tasks on your schedule; although theoretically, four 15-minute tasks should take the same amount of time as an hour-long task, it doesn’t because you have to switch tasks that take time and effort on your brain.
So, if you do plan in short tasks, give yourself “switching” time so when you reflect on what you did for the day, you don’t feel like you came up short on time.
Be realistic with what you can accomplish
Be realistic with time. Sometimes, I wonder if this is one of the keys, maybe the most important key, to make anything great whether that’s a successful business, a beautiful garden, becoming a better musician, etc. is to put in the time.
Yes, personal effort, having a good teacher, and many other complex variables are at play but truly, just putting time into what you do will make a difference. And if you think about it this way, the greatest thing we have is our life, our time on this Earth. If we consistently put in at least a little time every day toward ourselves, then what we can change or create would have a magnificent effect.
Think of water on a rock. A rock or boulder is such a strong, immovable object, and yet, water over time can cut into it and alter it.
I believe that time is that special ingredient that when you add it in whether it’s for a gardener trying to grow a master garden, a researcher working on understanding or solving an esoteric problem, a musician trying to master their instrument, an inventor trying to problem-solve a seemingly impossible world issue, or someone trying to get over heartbreak, it can solve the problem. Without time, the efforts we take would not matter. We need time.
About success, “No matter how great the efforts, some things just take time. You can’t produce a baby in one month by getting nine women pregnant.”
Warren buffet
Be present
Try to be present and try to be fully absorbed in what you’re doing. This is difficult to do especially when you may be bored or don’t like what you are doing. We’ll talk more about being present and mindful in a later article.
When I was younger, talking to adults, they would often remark how quickly time seemed to pass by as if this were one of those moments they would lift up their head to look around and take stock of their life.
I believe having events and markers throughout your life will make you feel like you truly lived a full life when you look back at it. If you focus on taking in your present and making memories, it won’t be a blur when you look back making it seem like time passed too quickly.
In the end, it will not be how much time we spent on this planet, but what we did with our time that will matter the most to us and those in our lives. I think if you start spending time in a more conscious way, in a way that is more meaningful, and respectful to your dreams of reality, you won’t be focused on fighting time, you’ll be living it.
It’s time to start seeing time as a powerful ally rather than your countdown to meet your maker. I guess this is sort of a glass-half-full article but tell me when that kind of thinking doesn’t work.
Good luck and do what you can and what you truly want to do with your precious time.
Live Happier,
Nicole
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