A lot of people try to become more productive because they think they’ll gain time by saving time. Unfortunately, it’s rare that “gaining time” provides the benefit people think it does.
What many people don’t think about before they begin is what they’ll actually do with their time once they gain more of it. Once they have reclaimed some of their time, the usual response is to fill that time up with more things to do – so, they’ve gained time, but they still don’t have more time. (I’m aware of how contradictory that sounds.) Saving time in your daily tasks require some self-work and discipline, and if you’re going to do all the work just to do more work, what’s the point?
Granted, there may be some value in increasing the amount of work you can get done in a day, but the idea that having more time is an answer to some problem needs some serious examination. If you were to work to shave a respectable 45 minutes a day from the tasks you’re already doing by becoming more efficient or productive, what, really, are you going to do in that amount of time that is going to make a big impact in your effectiveness?
In reality, it’s rather unusual for most people to free up a block of 45 minutes; it’s more common to shave minutes off the things you’re doing each hour. And this makes the “why” question even more pressing: what can you do in the 5 minutes you save every hour that’s worth the focus spent to save those 5 minutes?
The counter-intuitive truth about gaining more time is that gaining it doesn’t necessarily add value, and, in fact, there are plenty of cases when having more time causes more problems than having less time. When we have too much time on our hands, we get bored. To keep from being bored, we fill up that time with more busyness. Once we get busy, we get overwhelmed and start looking for ways to save more time. And the cycle begins anew.
The way out of this cycle is to switch from just thinking about saving time to thinking in terms of saving time in order to do some specific thing. To return to my previous examples, saving 45 minutes so you can do more work really isn’t worth it, but it becomes immensely valuable when you use those minutes helping your children with their homework, exercising, or spending quality time with your friends. Those 5 minutes an hour become meaningful when they’re spent connecting (via correspondence) with friends and loved ones or practicing on your guitar.
Gaining time only becomes worthwhile when we use that time doing the things that we find meaningful and that help us become the type of person we want to be. Otherwise, the juice just isn’t worth the squeeze.
So, why are you trying to save time?
(I’m aware that this post falls within the category of completely obvious stuff that we shouldn’t need to hear. It’s funny how easy it is to forget the completely obvious stuff.)
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{ 13 comments… read them below or add one }
Damn Charlie, you really took your smart pills this week. You are so right, efficiency for efficiency’s sake is more often than not worthless if not a net loss. The time is wasted, you feel stressed by disrupting your routine, and the victory that you claim is empty because the savings that are not reinvested. I’ll keep that in mind next time I get tempted to spend hours figuring out how to shave seconds.
Mike Stankavichs last blog post..Short Sale Auction for my Previous Home
Oh yeah, a blinding flash of the obvious but as you say, we do actually get caught up in the doing-ness of life that the obvious is often overlooked!
I totally take on board what you are saying and my saved time is going to be banked to spend in short bursts on the social media and rss reading that is becoming such a useful part of my day, but with proper structure won’t actually take any more of my ‘precious time’.
Really thought provoking post, thanks!
Nicky Tillyer @artroxs last blog post..Keeping up with the bloggers
I’ll tell you, the ‘juice just isn’t worth the squeeze’ was some fantastic butter on this bread, brother. And, you are so dead on.
Sometimes I find myself rushing to shave precious minutes off, and when I’m given the grace to notice, I find myself asking: “Uh, where’s the fire?” It helps me to remember that I’m going to die with my to-do list undone, and so maybe I should take a breath.
Thanks for being the graceful reminder today. You rock. But you know that.
Mark Silvers last blog post..Do You Really Need to Offer a Free Download?
This is a really good thing to keep in mind. I think when I’m doing things to try to be more productive or efficient, only some of the time do I have in mind why I’m doing it, and those are the times it ends up making me happier rather than more frantic.
kballs last blog post..Improving Productivity beyond 1 Dish at a Time: Timeboxing
The completely obvious stuff IS the stuff we need to hear. Thanks, Charlie.
Writer Dads last blog post..The story garden
Obvious or not, this is a great post, and one I think I needed to read this week as I rush to get projects done. Thanks for the reminder, Charlie!
Never underestimate the power of the obvious, esp. when well stated!
Kind of reminds me of the David Allen advice, “the better you get, the better you’d better get.” Well how depressing is that. I don’t want to create great systems just so I can graduate to a little bit bigger hamster wheel.
We tend to not see the stuff that is right in front of our face. In a sense, the more ‘obvious’ a thing becomes, the more obscure it gets. It takes real skill to shed light on the stuff that is so evident that we no longer see it.
I loved this post.
Thanks!
Fantastic blog. Just what I need to learn from. Keep it up
Wow, thanks!
I value time so much…nice blog.
Saving time is only relative to your motives for spending it – observe the 80/20 rule and you will be fine. Prioritize, bitches!
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