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Time is Running Out! |
Weall have things that we can never have enough of. For some, it’s the food right across the street from their home. For others, it’s money or shoes or watches. And for a lucky few, it’s good ol’ sleep. You can crave for all you want, but there’s one thing that all of us constantly wish we had more of. And that is Time.
For example, 2018 is here. Yes, 2018!! That went by fast, didn’t it? What did you do? Where did all that time go? Well, as we keep saying, we’ll figure it out in the next year. The next year will be amazing! Wait, didn’t we say that for 2017 just a few days ago?? It’s a vicious cycle. You see what I am saying?
“ We can never have enough of time in our lives. “
Where is all my Time?
Sowhere does our time go? This is not a mystery. Hundreds of thousands of articles by self-help gurus — some successful and some not so much — have enlightened us with the evergreen, omnipresent problems of procrastination, continual distractions and the contribution of the advent of social media, among others. We know what we are doing wrong. We know where we are spending our Time. But do we really know what to do about this?
“ The feeling of being time-less is a timeless concept. “
But why so? Don’t we have enough time? If yes, why do we feel so time-less?
Tounderstand this evergreen problem with humans, we turn to my ever-reliable friend who goes by the name, Psychology. Psychology is the cornerstone for studying human behavior and decision making, while Statistics is the mathematical language of our brain’s thinking.
Daniel Kahneman explains in his famous book, “Thinking, Fast and Slow”, the two decision making hubs of the brain — system 1 and system 2 — where most of the decisions taken by a fast-thinking system 1 are not statistically coherent. Nevertheless, being incorrect doesn’t negate the fact that our brains use statistics as the mathematical language to think about events and probabilities. This incorrectness is precisely the reason why it is important to address statistics in all topics pertaining to human behavior and decision making.
So, what is Time? What makes us spend it so erratically while consequently ruing the lack of it? Why, being omnipresent, is Time the most sought after thing? To unravel this mystery, we need to understand how we perceive and deal with Time.
“ We need to understand our perception of Time and how we deal with it. “
Our Perception of Time
Weknow what we do and how we spend our time, in general. We know we need to change a few things. But this knowledge is not enough. Change is not so easy and straight-forward. Seldom do we really change. It needs time, deliberate consideration and constant, focused efforts.
If bringing about a change would be easy, everybody would be what they desire to be. Fortunately (or not so?), that’s not how things work in the real world. To change something, we first need to understand why is it the way it is. Only then can we understand the required change we need to bring about. It’s like the classic example of a facial v/s a change in diet for a better skin.
“ Fundamental changes have a long-lasting, irreversible effect — which we must ultimately strive for. ”
We have many misconceptions about Time. The way our brain views and evaluates the Future, given our Past and the Present condition, is far from optimal. Here are the important misconceptions about Time that we carry.
1) Time is a Commodity | The (natural) Value Paradox of Time
One of the biggest paradox in our perception of Time is also very natural to occur. Time is evergreen and omni-present. It is always there. This essential property of Time makes us perceive Time as a commodity. If you have a basic sense of business, you’ll know that a commodity is the opposite of a product (where value is put in). A commodity is an easily available, relatively cheap entity that usually does not have much intrinsic value in its raw form. Therefore, this perception of Time as a commodity (due to its ever-presence) makes us not value Time as we know and understand it. We take Time for granted, until it is gone and we have nothing to show for it.
2) Time of Past v/s Time of Future | Statistical Incoherence
Earlier, I referred to the classic case of the year-gone-by and the year-to-be. I am sure all of us will relate to it in some way or the other. Here’s an exercise.
Without much pondering, what do you think of your chances of doing something you’ve always wanted to (join regular gym, earn more, change your job, go to that dream trip, etc.) in the upcoming year?
Now, recollect if you had made the same vows in the year gone-by?
How many of your ‘resolutions’ are the same as that of the last year?
Did you see some recurring trends? The underlying problem lies with how the human brain perceives our chances of doing something. The brain is far too optimistic about itself in the future while being far too accommodating about its past behavior. Therefore, it perceives the chances of positive results in the future (uncertain) far greater than our historical record (certain). The biggest fallacy of the brain is the way it interprets statistically (or rather does not)
3) The Unlimited Time | The Secret of Procrastination
The society has divided itself into the two classic segments: the doers and those who don’t; this is not incorrect. But why are some of us wired one way and some the other? This is because the way we perceive our future is equally important in understanding the value of Time.
Procrastination is basically a sense of being in one’s comfort zone and having a large inertia to act. We know the definition. But the most important question to ask is, why is it so. The fundamental fault with procrastinators is that they believe (at least, sub-consciously) that there is unlimited time in the future. This perception has its roots in the fact that most of us do not have future goals and checkpoints. We just have desires. As we do not have a future reference, we do not understand the need to act and plan out our upcoming time, leading to a wayward expenditure of our time.
“ Procrastination: We know the definition. But more importantly, why is it so? ”
This is why the experts and motivational speakers ask us to “Have a goal”, “Have a timeline to reach your goals” .. and so on.
4) Immediate vs Long-term future | The Peril of Instant gratification
Once we understand the importance of not relying on our brain’s optimistic perception of the future and that Time is not infinite, the next issue we face with the perception of Time is the way we perceive different timelines. Many of us start and stop what we want to do. It is not for lack of trying but the lack of constant, focused efforts that we do not see the ultimate desired change within us. Instant gratification keeps you from aiming higher by satisfying you by engaging you in things that matter only in the short run.
Another shape instant gratification takes is when we expend Time on ‘random variables’ like social media, parties, binge-watching the next big series and the thousands of other ways that we can. There are a lot of options out there, that let you have instant gratification. They are now at your fingertips, thanks to technological advancements. And they ensure that you stay in these habit loops. Therefore, we need to recognize the importance of utilizing Time rather than expending it.
Sohow do we perceive Time correctly? What is Time and how can we harness it as we harness energy so that it doesn’t go to waste? Let’s have a look at what Time really is.
What Time really is
Time is Opportunity. An opportunity to do the things you want to, be with someone you love or to go where you want to be.
“ Wasted Time is a Wasted Opportunity “
Time as a Resource
There is a basic framework I have created to evaluate whether an activity is important and beneficial to the self or not. I call it “The 3+1 Framework”. Here it is.
Every individual has 3 primary and 1 secondary resource(s).
Primary: Mental energy, Physical energy and Time
Secondary: Money (Economic currency)
The secondary resource, money, is a standard means to barter our primary resources as per our requirements.
Time and Money | Similarities and Relationship
Money, in today’s world, is given utmost importance. I would say, it is not wrong to. But what we forget is why money is important. The reason is its pivotal role as the barter currency (the secondary resource) as stated in the framework.
“ We forget why Money is important! “
You would have heard about the Time-value of Money. But, have you ever considered the Money-value of Time? Actually, you have. For example, spending money on cooked food is a service you enjoy because sometimes you don’t have the time to cook for yourself. But you might not have considered it in ways it can help you overcome your feeling of Time-less-ness. Time is like money in two ways:-
- Sometimes you do things by yourself and spend your time to save money in order to utilize it in some other activity. In a similar manner, money can also buy you time. You need to evaluate and use your hard-earned money to save time for yourself so that you can utilize it on more important things that would provide you higher returns in terms of value in life (like visiting your favorite country or giving time to your loved ones)
- Invest time as you invest money with the primary intention to try to draw more value out of it as you invest it in an activity. Unfortunately in today’s date, investment seems to be considered relevant only in the case of the secondary resource, money.
Conclusion | The Present Time and How we must Use it
Time is one of the primary resources we have and thus, we need to perceive it differently; to understand the following essential properties of Time
- Time is a Resource: that we need to be prudent about
- Time is Premium: to understand its value when it exists
- Time is Limited: to act now, rather than procrastinate
- Time can be saved: to stay away from instant gratification and unnecessary expenditure
- Time is an Investment: to have a vision to draw utmost value and realize the power of constant, focused efforts
It is not enough to understand and respect time as a resource. One needs to have a vision for what one wants to do with it. All of us have goals and desires to achieve. But without planning our requirements, we cannot be good spenders of Time. Therefore, we need to understand and change how we perceive Time and prioritize our usage of it. Only then can we utilize Time as the Kingmaker.
Photo credit: Identity Studio
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