How do you value your time? Is your worth dependent on your productivity?

In a recent post I shared how I feel we need to reassess how we view and value our time to prevent burnout, and I shared this quote:

"If you don't want to burnout, stop living like you're on fire"

Because we currently live in a societal culture where time is viewed as a commodity and our worth is dependant on how productive we are. So it's no surprise that the number of people experiencing burnout is at record levels and rising, because people are rushing around with a constant sense of urgency, trying to do everything for everyone. Yet feeling guilty if they sit down because they think they're wasting their time, as there's always so much to do, or they worry that they'll be seen as lazy.

In her fantastic book "Rushing Woman Syndrome" Dr Libby Weaver describes the biochemical effects on women of living life always in a hurry, and the health consequences that arise from living in a constant state of survival. Stating that "women going into the menopause in this state really find it debilitating".

We urgently need to decondition ourselves from the current social concept of time in the Westernised world, because it's led us to disconnect from who we are as individuals and who we are as human beings. Because this concept has led us to ignore our needs in order to conform with a way of living and working that is not sustainable for our health and wellbeing.

Where did our current concept of time originate?

The Industrial Revolution is when the Westernised world went from a regarding time as synonymous with nature and its cyclical patterns, towards the linear approach we know today.

Prior to the Industrial Revolution most people would spend their time cultivating the land. This required them to focus on the best times of day to complete tasks taking account of the natural environment, which meant that they adapted their lifestyle according to the changing seasons to complete these tasks and meet their needs.

However, with the introduction of new manufacturing technologies along came factories that required workers to operate the machinery. Employers began to look at how they could maximise the output of their workers in order to maximise their profits. Which is when they decided to break time down into units of seconds, minutes and hours, to more easily measure worker performance and profits, which is the linear time orientation we still have today.

Human time became synonymous with artificial units of time and profit, and moved away from being aligned with our natural environment and human needs.

With this new concept of time we moved from a focus on "task orientation" to "time orientation" as employers harnessed their workers mental and social efforts in return for money.

• Task orientation is where the focus is on the completion of a specific task to a high quality/outcome over the adherence to any particular time constraints. Timescales are viewed as flexible as the goal is to ensure the achievement of the desired outcome - it will take as long as it takes! Without the pressure of strict deadlines there's less stress, instead the focus is to achieve a meaningful outcome with autonomy, which gives people a sense of purpose and enhances creativity and innovation.
• Time orientation is where the focus is on the time it takes to complete a task, with a strong emphasis on a structured use of time through work schedules and deadlines. Because time is viewed as a finite resource which requires discipline to ensure a task is done on time. This can and does compromise quality, innovation, relationships and a persons wellbeing. As the pressure to complete tasks within timescales often means little flexibility and little sense of purpose, as it's just about ensuring timescales are met. There's often limited autonomy as the process to complete the task has often been specified to ensure efficiency - because time is of the essence and money! All of which increases stress levels for humans as they move into survival mode which limits creativity and innovation.

This was when we went from waking at sunrise to waking up at the time dictated by the workplace, and the length of our working day became dictated by employers needs rather than our individual or human needs.

This was when time was broken down into artificial units to measure worker performance and profits and the introduction of clocks meant that time began to dictate our everyday lives.

I recommend reading this insightful article about the story of how time came to govern industry and then life by Alvin Chong: https://watchesbysjx.com/2020/07/time-consciousness-and-discipline-industrial-revolution.html

Cultivating a new concept of time to prioritise your wellbeing through a polychronic approach

There's a term for the way we currently view time in the Westernised world - it's called a monochronic approach. This concept of time along with the introduction of clocks during the Industrial Revolution helped to bring about societal order, in order to support the new ways of working and living. However, the biological and psychological impact on humans and our wellbeing needs were hardly considered. Which is why we then saw the introduction of labour laws come along afterwards and we are still working on appropriate equality and working rights for employees in the 21st Century!

In in more recent years we've seen further introductions of new technology, one of which was the smart phone. Which has meant that our time via our attention span outside of of the workplace has now been commoditised, because this digital technology was designed to capture our attention in order to sell us more products for profit.

At some point we as individuals need to wake up to the fact that we have free will to choose how we want to value and spend our precious time. We can decide how we want to spend our time, instead of allowing it to be dictated by industry whose only focus is profit.

The question is how? When we are all creatures of habit and:

“We live in a culture that is constantly amping us up with stress and stimulation.” Johann Hari - Stolen Focus

This is where implementing a self care practice comes in, one which incorporates more of a polychronic approach to your time. Which would enable you to connect more to your needs as an individual, the different seasonal changes in nature and place more value on "being" instead of "doing".

It's a method which emphasises multitasking in meaningful ways, to prioritise relationships and blend all the different aspects of your life together. For a more integrated lifestyle rather than trying to maintain the myth of an effective work/life balance. Which was also something that came about from the Industrial Revolution, as essentially factory bosses wanted workers to not bring their personal lives to work, because that would reduce efficiencies!

To take a polychronic approach, you first need to take a moment to review all the different aspects of your life. Look at any areas where you feel your needs are not being met, maybe that's more quality time with family or friends, starting a new exercise habit to meet your physical health needs, daily relaxation/meditation/being in nature for your mental health needs etc.

Start to build an idea of what an ideal day would look like for you, one where you could make better use of your time to meet your needs in the different areas of your life.

Next look at ways you can weave in moments of care, connection, and joy throughout our days, for example:

• When you make yourself a cuppa - could you use this as an opportunity to take a screen break and do some stretching or deep slow breathing to relax your mind and body?
• You need to have a meeting with a work colleague - could this be a walking meeting to boost both your mental and physical health?
• If you commute to work - could you listen to a podcast in the car or a guided meditation on the train to support your mental wellbeing?
• Instead of feeling stressed with so many tasks for others - take a moment to focus on what you feel you need to do next. As everyone else will always make their task a priority to meet their needs - but you need to learn to pause to decide what you need to focus on to meet yours.
• Focus on the quality of your time - who would you like to spend quality focused time with instead of distracted interaction? Because a polychronic approach is about ensuring meaningful connection with others as well as tasks for more purposeful living.
• Mindful multi-tasking - cook your dinner whilst having a kitchen boogie to your favourite songs to get some steps in, read a book you love whilst relaxing in a bath, journal your thoughts as part of your bedtime routine. Look at other ways you can combine tasks in your day to maximise meeting your needs.
• Seasonal adaptions - where could you look at ways to adapt your lifestyle to the changes in nature to support your needs? Such as increased time for sleep, rest and alone time during Winter.

When we take this approach to our life through a self-care practice, it becomes less about how productive we are and making sure we do everything within strict deadlines. Instead it's more about getting intentional about how we want to utilise our time, which will mean less time on technology, but also a realisation that:

A fulfilling life is not measured by time. Instead it's measured by the moments we enjoyed with those we loved, doing what we loved and living a life that's true to who we truly are.

Let me know your takeaways after reading this edition, was there anything that resonated for you and is there any action you will take as a result?

Take care, Clare