More than 60% of Australian women say they are suffering from time pressure. This is causing stress, arguments and inner turmoil. Even our kids are struggling. Employees waste 10 weeks a year searching for missing documents, grappling with sharing files and other lost administrative tasks.
We try to play catch up by multi-tasking, better known as ‘faulty tasking’, but we lose 30 minutes of thinking flow every time we switch tasks, making it the most overrated in our list of bad habits.
When did we lose touch?
My darling grandmother would not believe the way I live my life, were she still gracing this world with her wisdom and charm. With so many “time saving” devices at my disposal – washing machine, iPhone, car, Thermomix, vacuum cleaner, dishwasher, microwave. She may well wonder why I don’t swing in a hammock all day long reading a book, with all the help at my disposal.
How many devices can claim to save us hours per day? And yet here we are, more ‘time poor’ than our grandmothers. Their perspective of time was completely different.
The thing is, time is a totally man-made construct. What’s your relationship to time? What does it mean to you? Is it something to tame? To conquer, keep, spend, waste, have, make? If you could find 12 extra hours per week, would you spend it doing what you’re already doing and feeling as stressed as you do now? Or would you use it in a way that changes your life for the better?
We need to change our inner ‘talk’ about time, and remember that we already have what it takes to make a massive difference in our own lives and the lives of those around us. Of the three sources of personal power – time, energy and money – time is the only one that we can NEVER get back. The clock is always ticking. Spend money and you can go and earn it. Expend your energy and you can re-charge with a good night’s sleep. But no one has ever been able to turn the clock back.
Sometimes it feels like you’re there all alone with that massive ‘to do’ list and your mind racing about endless tasks you haven’t done, worrying about tomorrow, next week, next month. But there are millions of women who all share these frustrating time issues. Time to stop overwhelming and start living. It’s time to change the way we think about time.