A Better Way To Think Of Time
Wed Aug 10 20:53:12 2011
Changing your mentality about the value of your time.
How much can do you in 15 minutes? You can sort and load the laundry into the washing machine, make a quick breakfast, or write this article.
How easily can you waste 15 minutes? Most people don't think of 15 minutes as that big of a time period. Last time I went to my doctor, I was told "the doctor will be with you in just a second"... ended up waiting for 15 minutes. In some countries, being half an hour late won't even be considered rude. How about hours? What's "a couple of hours" to you? Is it just a couple of hours?
Many people walk their lives squandering 15 minutes here and 15 minutes there; oblivious to the fact that time is the most valuable resource each of us has. Time cannot be saved, it can only be spent. It's how you spend your time that counts.
To make ourselves more aware of the value of time, how about we create a new time unit. Let it be equal to 15 minutes, and let's give it any creative name we want. I call my 15 minutes a "q", which is derived from "quarter", as 15 minutes is a quarter of an hour.
15 minutes is also 1% of a 24-hour day, and 3% of an 8-hour business day. If we consider that on average we sleep for 32% (or 32q) of our daily time allotment, our new time unit should already feel more valuable.
The time value of "q" units also plays well with the fact that our brains are not too good with doing math on the fly. What's larger: 365 hours or 21900 minutes? The answer is the time periods are equal, but a larger number for the minutes makes the time period feel larger.
What's larger: 1 hour for lunch or 4q for lunch? 8 hours for sleep or 32q for sleep? 2 hours spent watching a dull movie or 8q spent doing something that adds value to your life? The "q" unit simply feels larger, and since it feels larger, you're less likely to squander your time.
Don't let others rob you of your time. If you can think of a more important thing to do, just say "gotta run", and leave, and do it!
The way you spend your time affects how you value your life and how others will value your past existence when you're gone. You can't regain the time you've lost.
Gotta run.
Resources and Further Reading:
- How We Decide by Jonah Lehrer (ISBN: 978-0-618-62011-1)
- 57 Ways to Take Control of Your Time and Your Life by Jim Meisenheimer (ISBN: 0-9637479-4-0)
- In Search of Time: Journeys Along a Curious Dimension by Dan Falk (ISBN: 978-0-7710-4759-6)
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