Don't wish time away

Time is too precious to spend hours watching the clock

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.
Good Morning, This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.
Today's tip is about how to stop wishing time away.
Many of us claim that we want more time, yet
we also spend reasonable chunks of an average day wishing

(00:26):
time would move faster. You're stuck in traffic, merging onto
a busy highway. You're watching the clock during a boring meeting.
The kids are whining, and you're counting the minutes until bedtime.
This is human nature, but it always feels like such
a miserable bargain. Our time on this planet is strictly limited,

(00:48):
and here we are wishing these minutes would move faster.
I won't claim all time is precious. Any moments involving
physical or psychological pain are just hard. In those moments,
the fact that all time passes can be a blessing. Instead,
I'm talking more about the humdrum moments of life that

(01:08):
aren't inherently good or bad. Our experience of these moments
is all about how we interact with them. Unfortunately, there
are several ways to move these moments from the clock
watching category to the enjoyable category. The most obvious way
is to engineer fewer of them into your life in
the first place. Few of us have truly examined our

(01:29):
schedules from this perspective. Try tracking your time for a
few days or ideally a week. You can download a
time tracking spreadsheet from my website, Laura Vanderkamp dot com,
or you can just make your own on this schedule,
note when you felt happy or relaxed. Then also note
when you were wishing time would move faster. What were

(01:51):
you doing during those times? Ask yourself a few questions
about these moments. First, do they absolutely have to happen?
If you hate running errands on weekends, maybe you can
plan ahead and get stuff delivered. Maybe you can throw
money at the problem. I enjoy watching my kids sports games,
but I don't enjoy chasing younger siblings on the sidelines.

(02:13):
Hiring a sitter for a few hours on the weekend
can solve this issue and keep me from wishing these
moments away. Maybe that horrible meeting can be shortened, or
it could happen less frequently. Maybe you can shift your
hours or work from home occasionally so traffic is less
of a frustration. Maybe a problem can't be solved in

(02:33):
the short run, but it can be solved in the
long run. If you find yourself wishing the clock would
move faster for the majority of your work day, that's
maybe a sign it's time to hunt for another job.
There are lots of ways of working, and in a year,
the odds are good that you could find something more
interesting and fulfilling. On some level, we know these things,

(02:56):
but we can become so used to the sensation of
wishing time move faster that we don't stop to question it.
So today question it. Declutter your calendar, be more judicious
about what you take on. Of course, it's not possible
to live a life where absolutely everything in our schedules
sparks joy. As Marie Condo might say, some moments are

(03:20):
necessary evils. I love public speaking and I love exploring
new places around the globe, Alas both of these tend
to involve air travel, and despite getting on a plane
once or twice a week, I remain a semi nervous flyer.
I don't think I will ever get on a plane
and not wish that the trip was over and I
was at my destination. But I've gotten better at making

(03:43):
this time better. I bring books or longer magazine articles
that I'm looking forward to reading. I download music and
save podcast episodes for the trip that I know i'll enjoy.
I assign myself work that will put me in a
state of flow, particularly since I know it won't be
checking my email for a few hours. The key is

(04:04):
to stack some sort of pleasure on top of the
unpleasant parts. This can minimize the clock watching. We can
also make the post of the power we have to
change situations, or at least our perception of them. Distractions
can make the time go faster, but sometimes we're better
off forgoing the distractions and leaning into the situation. Rather

(04:27):
than check email under the table during a boring meeting,
you commit to paying complete attention. You go in fully
prepared to make the most of every minute. You commit
to making eye contact and connecting with the presenter, making
that person feel like what he or she is doing
is important. Now, that may or may not be true
that what the person is doing is important, but a

(04:49):
genuine connection has all kinds of payoffs and will make
you feel like you didn't waste that hour. So how
do you keep from wishing time away? You can let
me know at before Breakfast podcast at i heeart media
dot com. In the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for
listening and here's to making the most of our time. Hey, everybody,

(05:17):
I'd love to hear from you. You can send me
your tips, your questions, or anything else. Just connect with
me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at Before Breakfast pod.
That's B the number four, then Breakfast p o D.
You can also shoot me an email at Before Breakfast
podcast at i heeart media dot com. That Before Breakfast

(05:39):
is spelled out with all the letters. Thanks so much,
I look forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is
a production of I Heart Radio. For more podcasts from
my heart Radio, visit the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you listen to your favorite show.