Is time management dehumanizing?

A listener asks if planning every minute spoils the experience of time

Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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 make plans without feeling
too restricted by your plans. So the title I gave
this episode is time management Dehumanizing, came from an interesting

(00:25):
letter I got from a Before Breakfast listener named in Yes.
She wrote that after listening to the podcast, she always
felt encouraged to plan things out and schedule her life
because she believed this would help her set priorities and
build the life she wants. But then she continued, However,
calculating in advance what I am going to do in
my personal and professional life feels a bit overwhelming and

(00:49):
dehumanizing because everything stops being spontaneous and every single hour
is planned out. Is your perspective on this any different, Well,
in a word, yes. First, I'd point out that when
people talk about time management being dehumanizing, usually they mean
that it's actually too human controlled. Some parts of time

(01:11):
are purely natural phenomenon days, years. People tend not to
feel too restricted by the fact that the sun keeps
rising and setting over and over again. It's other smaller
time units, such as hours and minutes that are human inventions.
These smaller inventions became very important and standardized during the
Industrial Revolution, when it suddenly mattered when the trains came

(01:34):
into a station or what time factory workers came for
their shifts. The idea of scheduling in these small human
increments is what can sometimes feel alienating and restricting. But
I don't believe this has to be the case. I mean,
to me, time management is about freedom. Because I know
my priorities for any given week, I know that I
can still make progress even if everything falls apart. If

(01:56):
I plan my work out well, I won't be rushing
to meet deadlines. And as I've learned over the years,
no one likes to feel rushed. Because I think about
how I'll spend my time on weekends, I tend to
have pretty good ones with various adventures. I don't feel
like I lose my weekends to mindless scrolling or chores
and errands. I also think that there is a huge
gap between planning every minute or every hour and planning nothing.

(02:20):
I actually don't recommend that people plan every minute. That's
because stuff you haven't considered is going to come up always.
If every minute of a day is booked. When an
emergency happens, all that other stuff has to be chucked.
That's why people feel overwhelmed and behind. But if you've
only booked about fifty percent of your day, then you've
got room for a whole half day of emergencies before

(02:43):
you're any worse for wear. So you have my permission
not to plan every hour. Please don't leave as much
open space as you can. And then I think you
can still get the benefits of planning without the feeling
of restriction by setting some limited intentions for any given day.
For a week day, what are three professional intentions that

(03:04):
will help advance me toward my goals? Then what one
to two things could I do in my personal time
that would be meaningful or enjoyable for me and the
people I care about. A weekend might feature three to
five intentions. That's really not a whole lot. There are
sixty hours between that six pm Friday beer and that's
six am Monday morning alarm clock. Five intentions is basically

(03:27):
a rate of one intention every twelve hours. That can
leave a lot of open space and no real sense
of restriction. But then you can also do cool stuff
that does require planning ahead, such as eating at restaurants
where it's wise to make a reservation, or going on
a hike with friends who probably have a busy schedule too,
or volunteering somewhere that shockingly enough wants their volunteers to
commit to showing up to me, that's not dehumanizing. Instead,

(03:51):
it's really the best of both worlds, open space plus
stuff that you know will make memories. Now, I suspect
many people who listened to a time management podcast probably
already agree with me. But if you're the sort who
finds planning to feel restrictive, I would love to learn
how you've reached a balance in your life. Feel free
to email me at Before Breakfast podcast at i heeart

(04:12):
media dot com. In the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks
for listening, and here's to making the most of our time. Hey, everybody,
I'd love to hear from you. You can send me
your tips, your questions, or anything else. Just connect with

(04:33):
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
is spelled out with all the letters. Thanks so much.
I look forward to staying in touch, but for Breakfast

(05:00):
is a production of I heart Radio. For more podcasts
from I heart Radio, visit the i heart Radio app,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
H