On Time & week 11 of 52

Is it really moving faster? Or are we just not paying attention?

Days are where we live.   

They come, they wake us   

Time and time over.

They are to be happy in:   

Where can we live but days?

…

—Philip Larkin, excerpt from "Days"

Two years ago, my class icebreaker was “Give me one prediction for the future.”

One student stood out among the “flying cars” and “crypto” answers. He told us he would be the President of the United States.

A few students chuckled, and I said, “Everyone, be kind to [student’s name]. Just in case.”

Last week, this same student emailed and asked to meet and discuss his game plan. I was impressed that he was staying the course and accepted the meeting request, though I wasn’t sure I’d have much insight or advice to offer. Politics is not my domain.

When we met, the conversation was less politically focused than I thought, which was a relief.

My ex-student wanted to know what advice I had about how to get through each day as he set out along this path. He said he felt called to run for office but worried about getting through all he had to do daily. We discussed basic self-care and how to balance obligations and rest; inevitably, the conversation moved to time and time management. We reflected.

I’m not sure about you, but my ex-student and I hear the following often, especially from people with “big” goals:

“Why is time going so quickly?”

“What is time anymore?”

“Why did they take so long [a day] to take a stance on [insert big issue]?”

“Why didn’t they respond [yet]?”

“I don’t have any time anymore.”

“When I get time …”

“I have x # of hours.”

Which brings us back to the challenge. If the clock was ticking predictably, and you could truly control—or even understand—time, what would you change right now?

There are formulas we can factor into daily time management plans, such as our need for 8 hours of sleep each night or 1 hour to exercise each day. We can send ourselves calendar invites and look at productivity trends. We can measure the time spent on social media, making money, with family and friends; and we can time our drives, walks, and grocery store visits.

We could even think about time as creatives. When writing a book, we probably want to ensure that even the slowest reader will need fewer than 20 hours to read our creations. We know that time is all we have, after all. We need to be careful how we “spend” it.

Finding the right pacing to sustain ourselves seems like no easy feat, but I’m not convinced it even is a feat. I do get that we often feel we’re riding a pendulum and either overextended or worried that we’re not doing enough. But more often than not, we simply aren’t paying attention. No matter how much time we have.

We might be on the beach or with loved ones or doing what we love, and still, we are distracted. We might be doing things we deplore, and still, we are okay.

Instead of thinking about how fast these 11 weeks have gone and what we’ve accomplished per week, day, or hour, what if we looked at the flow of it all?

Time, after all, is just movement.

The “container” of a year to live is just that, but one day need not feel more rushed than the next. Same with this minute or the next.

Not that we can’t have radical fulfillment, 10X productivity, or mind-blowing orgasms in some moments, but rather that aiming for that, how about we cultivate a certain appreciation, contentment, and attention to this moment that emphasizes the value of this human life? How about you ask yourself, truly, what you are experiencing right now? With these words and these thoughts. And then with whatever is next in your life?

Attention, after all, is the remedy for “fast-paced living.” And it’s available now.

Photo by Bruno Figueiredo

Writing prompt: Write without care for time this week. Write with radical and total presence, even if that means pissing off your friends/family. (You can blame me.) Or, if that’s too much, write a story in which time slows to a crawl.

AYTL prompt: Live as above (either prompt), if even for just a short time.

Let me know your thoughts about time and attention and how it’s changed/not changed below. I’d love to hear them.