The day is 24 hours for everyone. But some say they never have time. And others seem to have too much. How is this possible?
Einstein was one of the first scientists to talk about the relativity of time. He said that two hours with a nice girl feel like a minute, while a minute on a hot stove feels like two hours (The New York Times, March 1929).
The relativity of time has been expressed in different ways for thousands of years. The Bible says that with the Lord, one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day (Psalm 90:4 and 2 Peter 3:8).
If we look at how people perceive time, we can see four main categories:
Perpetual Time Crunch
Here, people have multiple things to do in an hour, and it’s simply impossible to do everything they want to do. Sometimes it feels like a hamster wheel: they have to keep going. They are constantly interrupted by notifications or by others. Coffee and other stimulants are “mandatory” in this lifestyle.
There is an illusion of productivity, but most often people are very busy without doing impactful work. If you ask them what they accomplished at the end of the day, they will have a hard time remembering.
Time with Priorities
Here, time is still divided into many small pieces, but people have one focus per hour. Think of a dentist who is focused on one single patient for an hour, who doesn’t look at their phone and isn’t interrupted. So, productivity at this level is exponentially higher than at the previous one.
At this stage, the work is usually repetitive and has little impact in time and space.
Focused Time
Here, people manage to block chunks of time (at least a few hours) to work on something without being interrupted. Not even the notifications on their phone.
At this stage, people manage to create things with higher impact in time and space. Maybe they write a scientific paper or work on the business strategy for the next year. Whatever it is, productivity is again exponentially higher than at the previous stage.
Focused Priorities
Here, people don’t manage their time anymore. Often, someone else might be in charge of their agenda and tell them what they will do next. But they have two or three priorities that are very clear to them.
Sometimes these priorities come in the form of very clear criteria. Because the criteria are so clear to them, they are able to make very complicated decisions in a very short time. Think of a president who makes life-or-death decisions daily.
We once met a very successful entrepreneur who had seven businesses. He told us, “It looks like I’m doing many things, but I’m really doing only one thing: financial management.”
Conclusions
The reason we told you about these four types of relationship with time is to make you aware that something else is possible. If you are in a perpetual time crunch now, don’t let your mind convince you that this is the reality. It’s only a stage of development.
Love and Wisdom,
Monica and Stefan
P.S. We are planning a live two-hour masterclass for our clients on your relationship with time, between Christmas and New Year. It’s one of the rare occasions when we will teach together: Monica and Stefan. If you are interested, join the waiting list here.
