Mass Hypnosis and Time

Modern man seems to be in a state of mass hypnosis when it comes to time. Most everyone is running around complaining that they don’t have enough of it.

People don’t have enough time? What does that mean exactly? 

We all get the same 24 hours every day. Some people use those hours wisely, others use them foolishly. Not being able to do everything that you want to do or everything that others might want you to do does not constitute a lack of time but rather a lack of priorities. A person with clear priorities will be less prone to complain about lack of time.

What we are experiencing as a society is not really a lack of time, but a multitude of choices, limited resources, and unclear priorities. 

Most time management courses today focus on helping people pack as many activities into every hour, day, week, month and year as possible. While many of the techniques taught in these classes are extremely valuable and beneficial, their premise is in many ways suspicious.

• Is doing more necessarily better?
• Does the person win, who has done the most during his life before he dies?

The method of making lists, prioritizing them and following tasks to completion is surely important – but always filling your task list to the brim may not be as wise as it appears to be at first.

“If only life were so simple,” you might say. “But I don’t have enough time to do everything I want to do.”

That’s your problem right there. Time is a limited resource. You must face the fact that you cannot do everything. Saying YES to something also means saying NO to the things you want to be doing at the same time.

You must choose. You must prioritize.

Gudjon Bergmann
Interfaith Minister and Author
Founder of Harmony Interfaith Initiative

Picture: CC0 License

Column curated from Bergmann’s books and blogs on stress and time management.