Do you have the time?

Let’s talk about time.

The battle with time is one of the oldest in the human condition.

Human beings have been trying to manage, master, control, keep, and organise time for… well, a very long time.

Some people create elaborate systems to try to control their time (e.g. the famous Getting Things Done book).

Others are ruthless in cutting away activities to ‘save’ time.

This is all very well-intentioned, but it can verge on the ridiculous when you consider how much time is wasted on trying not to waste time.

I’m reminded of this great scene from Chapter 7 of Lewis Carroll’s Alic In Wonderland:

***

Alice sighed wearily. “I think you might do something better with the time,” she said, “than waste it in asking riddles that have no answers.”

“If you knew Time as well as I do,” said the Hatter, “you wouldn’t talk about wasting it. It’s him.”

“I don’t know what you mean,” said Alice.

“Of course you don’t!” the Hatter said, tossing his head contemptuously. “I dare say you never even spoke to Time!”

“Perhaps not,” Alice cautiously replied: “but I know I have to beat time when I learn music.”

“Ah! that accounts for it,” said the Hatter. “He won’t stand beating. Now, if you only kept on good terms with him, he’d do almost anything you liked with the clock. For instance, suppose it were nine o’clock in the morning, just time to begin lessons: you’d only have to whisper a hint to Time, and round goes the clock in a twinkling! Half-past one, time for dinner!”

***

Now, this scene is obviously comedic.

But I think it contains a kernel of truth about time.

Time is the word we use for the eternal human experience of the present moment becoming the past.

Thus, it’s a human concept – but a human concept for a reality.

The trick is to remember that it’s a description of an experience, not a name of a thing.

This might sound strange, but it’s something that gets overlooked all too often.

You see, as humans we have a tendency to give a name to something and then think that that means we’ve got it cornered. It’s as if the name trapped the thing under our power, like a spell in the old legends.

But the reality is, we don’t control time.

We all get the same ‘salary’ of time every day – just 24 hours. Day in and day out.

The difference between the ‘average’ person and the person who accomplishes so much more than the average?

It’s not more time.

It’s an awareness of the present moment – and the conviction to use it.

As the Hatter reminds us – Time can’t stand being beaten. But what if you just keep on good terms with him?

Then you’ll find your entire life can change.

And you’ll somehow have a lot more time.

When I was at university, I was doing 6 subjects a semester, working 7 days a week, and finding time to exercise every day, play video games with my brothers, watch movies, and go out with friends for drinks occasionally.

I also managed to read, and play music.

Not once did I hand an assignment in late – in fact one semester I was two weeks early.

By accident.

One of my friends asked me how I did it: I could answer her, but it wasn’t an answer that is very satisfactory for most people:

I just did it.

What I mean is this: this moment is passing, as every moment is.

Time is the experience of the passing of the present.

That is an unchanging and neverending experience.

So it’s not about saving time.

It’s about what you do in the midst of the experience of time.

It’s about saying “This is what I want to do”, and then just… doing it.

But notice something here:

I didn’t say “I need to spend x amount of time on this project or that.

I said “I want to accomplish this.”

And so I focussed all my energies onto accomplishing the task as quickly as possible.

When I was writing my PhD, I only had two days a week in which to work on it.

So I had a goal: I worked until I’d written a thousand words minimum – fully researched and referenced.

Some days that took me 2 hours.

One day it took me 10 hours.

Most days it took me about 4 bours.

But it didn’t matter how long – I set myself a task, a ‘minimum viable day’ – and that’s what I achieved.

If I achieved it quickly – I had more time for other things.

If I didn’t – well, that’s life.

So here’s the ‘secret’ to using your daily salary of time:

Decide on the 1-6 tasks you want to get done tomorrow.

Decide on the single most important task.

Do that.

Do it as quickly and efficiently as possible.

Then if there’s time, do the next most important.

And so on.

If you have a limit for how many hours you work – that’s fine, do the above within that window.

But this applies to your personal practices, too.

Want to learn a language?

Same process.

Want to read more?

Same process.

You get the idea.

This applies as much to speechwork as anything else, by the way.

Something to think about.

Talk soon,

Alexander

P.S. If you know someone who needs help with strategic problem-solving, or messaging and speechwriting, forward this email to them or have them reach out to me at [email protected]