It is well
recognised that in human life time is the most precious but most limited
resource. From the time one is born to the time one breathes one’s last, time
is the constant companion of one’s life. One ought to be conscious of this once
the cognitive abilities start developing but unfortunately few accord the
importance to time as one must. The importance of time in acquiring education,
gaining experience, developing relationships, promoting careers, preserving
health and delaying aging is well known. However, how to deploy and utilize ‘unit
time’ as a resource for maximal efficiency and effectiveness tends to be a
highly personal matter, varying from individual to individual and family to
family. Approach to time is a core value that one imbibes based on one’s family
and educational backgrounds.
It is not
unusual for kids to watch their parents and siblings at work and in undertaking
family responsibilities and imbibe certain values with regard to use of time.
Likewise, the educational systems of the institution a person joins and the
approaches of friends further supplement the approaches to time. Over time, a
person develops an approach towards life that could be ‘structured and systematic’, ‘flexible
and tactical’ or ‘fatalistic and philosophical’. Depending on which of the
three approaches govern a person’s view of life, his or her attitude towards
time also would vary. These approaches to life are not usually static, and
could vary with phases in life. Accordingly, one’s approaches to utilization of
time would also vary. Though this blog post is not life approaches, some
discussion on the topic would be in order.
Approaches to life and time
Structured and
systematic approach to life is the ultimate planner’s and productivity expert’s
trip. This person is an industrial engineering expert of sorts, knowing exactly
what should be done when, how and why. Obviously, the structured and systematic
person knows the value of time the best. He or she considers life as a duty to
be fulfilled diligently and efficiently. Flexible and tactical approach to life
depends on sizing up each activity as it emerges and responding to it
accordingly based on perceptions of risk and reward for each activity and the
modality/time for fulfilling it. The flexible and tactical person seeks to
manage life for happiness than be managed by it as a duty. Fatalistic and
philosophical approach to life follows a minimalist and mindful approach to
life without exerting effort to seek more than what follows from circumstances.
The fatalistic and philosophical person seeks nothing other than emotional
fulfilment from life.
Typically,
during the educational phase of life, a person is likely to be and expected to
be structured and systematic. As one takes up a career job he starts
appreciating the utility of a structured and systematic approach to life but
also starts understanding the opportunistic benefits of being tactical and
flexible. Somewhere during the journey, and certainly after retirement from active
service, he starts giving up being in the race of life and begins to appreciate
the fulfilment of being fatalistic and philosophical in life. An ideal
calibration could be to see a phase-in of the three approaches as being
sequential. These approaches are not mutually exclusive. A fatalistic and
philosophical person may still be quite ordered and disciplined how he conducts
his daily chores. As one struggles in career despite being structured or
tactical, one may begin appreciating the benefits of being philosophical. It is
easy to appreciate that the approach to life influences one’s approach to time.
Time erodes
Sure, time
ticks away from one’s life but one can try to gain a little by trying to live
longer, and by living healthier without loss of time. That said, whenever it
hits, time erosion as a concept hits one like a sudden fall of a ton of bricks.
People respond to this realization with a variety of emotions: from frustration
and desperation on one hand to recovery and urgency on the other. The former is counterproductive while the
latter could produce certain results. Both the types of responses lead to
needless stress, and if encountered continuously accelerate aging of
individuals. That time dissolves is a truism. However, if we fail to make good
use of time, negative emotions and stress are not the solutions. Improved
learning and enhanced productivity are the better solutions.
Learning
requires additional time even as the pressure of lost time mounts. That is
where time management as a concept comes up. By decluttering activities,
listing the uncluttered ones, prioritising them, and even delisting the low
priority, non-value adding ones, one would be able to release more time in a
day than lost. Time thus released can be utilized to learn and carry out things
more productively. Structured and systematic people, even when disrupted by
flexible and tactical approaches, can overcome erosion of time with the above
approach. There is, however, a more meaningful approach to understand the true
value of time, as an eternal clock. Life may freeze but time shall never
freeze. Therein lies a great awakening.
Time as continuous refill
We know the sand
filled hourglass as the classic depiction, and when well engineered a classic
measurement, of time. While time for an individual may be limited time as an
absolute resource is indeed timeless. The way to look at time is not to get
exercised that time is getting lost but also to be excited that time is getting
continuously refilled. In fact, compared to any other resource time is the only
resource that gets continuously refilled. For example, when we expend money it
will not be automatically recouped unless specifically earned. On the other
hand, even if we expend time, we can be sure that the next unit of time will be
available to be utilized. Time is therefore a continuous refill to be positive
and optimistic about. If we are unable to perform certain activity in a given
period of time, it can be performed soon after.
The concept of
time as continuous refill is not meant to cause complacency. In fact, it is
worthwhile for all of us to keep time logs to keep an account of time we spend
on different activities such as priority activities or vital-essential-desirable
activities, and if the time has been spent productively or wastefully. By linking
the time log to results in terms of happiness and satisfaction we could become
even better on linking time to our emotional wellbeing. This exercise is an
individual choice as each one’s goals, schedules and approaches vary. Many people
in work life believe that busyness makes good business. Research has established
that doing nothing and concentrating mind on serene matters has helped improve
productivity. The greatest support for this approach comes from the fact that
the moment a rejuvenated person is ready to take on work again, time will be at
hand.
Invisible accumulation
Whether one is
productively work focused or meditatively leisure focused, time ticks by
alright but something invisibly accumulates. That accumulation takes place in
three categories; experience, wisdom and stature. Experience helps one manage
time effectively along with other resources. Experience helps one to come up with
the right recipe for mixing resources in a time effective manner for desired
results. Wisdom helps one identify whether certain endeavours are worth the
while at all or those facing neglect are the ones that need to be picked up
right away. Experience and wisdom together help a person in accomplishment of
results in a more effective manner than others could. Series of such
accomplishments based on experience and wisdom lead to stature. Stature again
is not something that can be metricised; it is also an invisible accumulation
that can be only felt by others.
Invisible
accumulation of experience, wisdom and stature ideally must remain invisible.
It is a completely personal achievement that is related to one’s approaches to
life and time as discussed so far. Any public display by one on what he
perceives as his wisdom and stature would only erode those invisible assets.
There is reference in Hindu mythology to mystic powers that are developed based
on continuous prayers and penances which must be utilized, if at all, for good
causes in a discrete manner. Utilization on inappropriate matters and boastful
references to such powers are said to lead to dramatic dilution of such powers.
Invisibly accumulated experience, wisdom and stature are akin to this. Interestingly,
those who are experienced, wise and statured realize the importance of time,
and its judicious use in vesting them with such invisible accumulation.
Kala chakra
As understood
so far, a typical accomplished person used to reach his or her full wisdom and
stature in his or her sixties, and thereupon lose it progressively as he or she
falters with age. If one were to see this evolution as wisdom and stature
travelling with time, the apogee is reached after six or more decades but thereafter
when it gets down to the final low varies with individual, given (a) the low and
uncertain longevity, and (b) the differences in longevity. However, with
increased longevity of human race, the journey from apogee to low point can no
longer be taken as an inconsequential, immaterial and natural decline. On the
other hand, with increasing longevity, there is an increasing need to preserve,
if not enhance, the invisible accumulation.
As the human
race moves forward on better physical health (with more advanced healthcare and
nutrition), the need for better emotional health becomes self-evident. The approaches
to life and time discussed in this blog post, structured and systematic,
flexible and tactical, fatalistic and philosophical continue to be relevant over
a much longer time horizon, beyond the sixties. The need to think of time more
as a refilling rather than eroding resource is more important than ever. The
need to continue to nurture the invisible accumulation of experience, wisdom
and stature is also self-evident. The wheel of time, which starts from the
first breath will keep spinning till the last breath of a human. It is entirely
up to him or her to govern the speed to apogee and thereafter!
Posted by Dr CB
Rao on May 21, 2016
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