Tag: time

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On The Clock

Time Wins

When someone, something, or some experience is holding you back, quit.

When you hear someone say “life is too short” believe them. You are on the clock every moment of your existence.

Thinking about that concept every day is exhausting. Thinking about Memento Mori every moment unnecessarily slows you down.

But!

When you’ve subconsciously gotten to a point where you are questioning your “why” its time to put it on the table.

  • What are you doing this for?
  • Why are you doing it?
  • Who are you trying to serve (I think Bob Dylan got it right when he sang “We all gotta serve somebody“)

And remember, when you decide to do something, you aren’t doing something else.  Our time is finite and opportunity cost matters.

Remember, you’re on the clock.

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Avoid Dust

All time isn’t equal

Focus matters when it comes to working with impact.

Every time you get distracted, you gather attention residue. Think of it like dust on your “windshield” of focus. When you decide to stop paying attention, you get dust. That dust makes it hard to see where you’re going.

If you ever had dust on your windshield non-metaphorically, you realize how annoying it is to clean. You can’t just “wait it out,” you have to stop and wash the windshield. Cleaning takes time.

Our minds automatically do this when we gather “attention residue.” The amount of time it takes for our “pit-stop?”

Twenty minutes.

Think about that the next time you think  you can “check email real quick.”

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSUlLtqaqIDQ6GeucgISZ0g

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The Time Saving Question

Does this matter?

One of the secrets to using your time effectively is being ready and willing to ask this question as often as you can. 

Don’t fall for the ego trap either. When someone asks that of you, the question isn’t an attack. Time is worth fighting for and is valuable.

Don’t make the mistake of taking it personally. 

Time doesn’t have time for ego.

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Good Taste Takes Work; Time is Limited

Good taste takes work.

Taste is a skill, not a talent.

Since it is a skill, and needs to mature, you have to work. You’ll need vulnerability. You’ll need strength. Bad taste comes before good.

It takes time, and sometimes public failure, to get there.

Biographies, like this one of Ben Franklin, are a great reminder.

The best, well-researched biographies make us cringe when we read them. They lay the subject bare, and remove some of that luster that made you read their biography in the first place.

So, think about your biography. What failures created your good taste?

If you don’t have any, you are running out of time :-).

 

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Don’t Emulate Robots

Don't Emulate Robots

Our efficiency relies on “no.”

When new projects happen, keep three things in mind:

  • Every day we walk around with a limited supply of energy.
  • Every task we take on consumes a part of that energy.
  • There is a willpower tax for doing things we don’t want to do.

The last one is important because we all have things we don’t want to do but have to anyway. Often, we have no choice in the matter.

It serves as a reminder to create buffer time around and allow a chance to relax.

We aren’t robots, and we don’t work at our best when we emulate them.

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Staying On Course Can Lead You Off Course

Don’t Lock In

Sometimes I look at racetracks. I find them fascinating. They hold high-performance vehicles. Those cars run the same stretch of road over and over. The ability for cars to do something repetitive, for years at a time, is fascinating.

Building one is an investment. They spend time curating it and because of that, they get better in the same spot.

Fantastic for racing and the growth of the sport.

Great, except life, isn’t a repetitive course unless we force it to be one.  As a result, there are consequences.

This “lock-in” causes us to miss the beauty of the things around us. When we don’t stop and enjoy the roses, we miss out on the opportunity around us.

Instead of enjoying the life around you, you stay locked in a pattern.

When you lock into a pattern long enough, it becomes the new standard.

In that sense, staying on course leads you off of it, especially if you want to grow.

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You Can’t “Find Time.” No One Can

It’s a stopwatch, not a hackable computer

You Can't -Find Time,- No One Can
I can look at the time, tell you the time, or ask about the time.

I can’t give you time, in fact, you can’t give yourself time.

Time is a constant. Therefore, no one “owns” it.

Then why do we say things like “give me time?”

We say that because it’s shorthand for “tell me how long you need and I’ll calculate how much priority based on a million other factors and make it reasonable, please.”

Makes sense, because that’s a mouthful.

What is worrisome is “I don’t have time.” This concept of you not “having time” isn’t true, except in extreme circumstances*. We are all running the same clock. We don’t know how long that clock is going to run. No one can give you more of it.

Using language like that also takes away your agency. You are not responsible with how you use time; you just weren’t given enough.


The key to all of this, I think, is to think about time as a stopwatch. On this stopwatch, there is no start and stop button, and since it’s one of those mechanical types, no in and out or vulnerability to “hack.”

It just runs.

And it’s up to you to figure out what you want to do with it.

*Terminal disease, execution, etc.

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Don’t Do “Hit Lists”

“Hit lists” sap energy for no reason

After you didn’t get that promotion, funding, audition, spot, etc. it feels rewarding to put people on a hit list.

These aren’t people you kill. They are people you are going to “hit” with your “success.”

“They are going to remember me because I remember today, and when I “get” it (whatever it is) I’ll make sure they know.” *queue revenge music*

Stop. 

It isn’t worth remembering the people who “slighted” you for several reasons.

Here are a few:

  • Don’t contribute to malice what you could contribute to incompetence.
  • People (generally) aren’t out to get you.
  • You don’t know what they went through that day.

That moment’s importance is relative to you. That other person is just doing a job. You weren’t their cup of tea today. That’s fine.

There is a limit to time and energy.

It takes energy to  support, store and retrieve “memories” for the hit list.

You then have to spend time crossing people off the list, doing a “hit” when you get some success.

“I got the part, now I can’t wait to post it on Facebook. They are going to see it.”

That is draining and only causes more conflict. Every time you don’t get enough, you add to the hit list.

“Hit lists” never stop growing.

Would you rather keep up hit lists or get better? 

 

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Time to Dismiss the Default of Reactive

Reactive isn’t memorable.

We all have 24 hours in a day. There isn’t anyone who has 23 or 25. You can’t “save” time. You only spend it.

Time’s consistency combined with its scarcity is a major reason it’s the most valuable resource we have.

Our default state is to react to time:

  • Wait for an email to tell me what to do
  • Get that text to show us who to talk to
  • Find “fires” so we can feel effective

All of these things are reactive. None of those instances create memories. You won’t tell people at the bar later about that email that started you on a project. It isn’t a life that is memorable. When someone asks about what you were doing, all you say is you were “busy.”

When one is reactive, they rely on the word busy. Busy is a buzzword designed to protect your ego. When you say your busy, you don’t have to think about why you decided to do something.  You take away your personal responsibility.

At the end of the day, would you rather be busy or memorable?

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The “Maybe” Trap

Don’t hedge with this

Maybe is an incredible word, except when you use it to hide.

You know what I’m talking about.

Here is an example:

Sitting at a networking function, you’re at the table with someone charming, but talking about something that you have zero interest in. She turns to you and asks about hopping on the phone next week. You reply “maybe” and a  conversation that should end doesn’t.

Now both you and she spend time in a conversation that didn’t have to happen.

In that context, the speaker used the word “maybe” to hide a “no,” which tends to have unintended consequences.

  • You’ve wasted personal time, as well as someone else’s.
  • You’re spending energy trying to “manifest” a “no” down the line.
  • The relationship you developed at dinner could work for someone else you know. Now that’s out because of the results in the two previous bullets.

 

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