Different Kinds of Time

Different Kinds of Time

Time is our greatest asset! Time is a bitch!
Many entrepreneurs have a love/hate relationship with their clocks and calendars.
Consider the possibility that there are two kinds$of time – fast time and slow time.

Fast time: You have a lot to do, you’re multi-tasking, you’re on deadline or beyond, you are responding to many demands, too many demands.

Michael Gerber, of E-Myth fame, calls this “doin’ it , doin’ it, doin’ it.” We’ve all been there. We all live there. But Gerber suggests that when you’re “doin’ it , doin’ it, doin’ it,” you’re acting more as Chief Employee than Chief Executive.

Some call it “multi-tasking” and revel in their skill in managing multiple concurrent tasks. A recent book from David Rock on the anatomy and function of the brain suggests that multi-tasking is a trap. David suggests that when we segment our mental processing power to managing several things at once, we degrade available intellect from MBA level to 8th Grade level. (It’s even worse if you (or I) didn’t start out at the MBA level.) Summary: If you divide your time, you divide your intellect.

Slow time. Consider the possibility that if you were working in SLOW time, you could get your whole brain in play. Imagine that it’s a new low gear for your brain.
Try this. Surprises coming. Right now. Stop what you are doing, stare straight ahead, and turn your head slowly to the right, so slowly that if someone came in the room, they wouldn’t see your head move. Spend 2 minutes turning, then bring your head back regularly. Go!

>———- ———- ———– ———- ———— ———– ——— ———– ———- ——— >

What was that like? Didn’t time slow up for you? In a demonstration at F.I.T. in NY last year, dancer and teacher Cathy Salit put us through these paces. Several people had surprising difficulty, most got interested, some really excited.

But what happened for you? If you actually did the exercise, you may have found something interesting going on. You may have experienced a different sensation of time. And, to my amazement and delight, a sense of being able to control the experience of time! If you didn’t try it before, try it now, take 2 minutes (check your watch) and turn your head very slowly to one side. Catch your breath and then turn it back normally. Note the difference.

Consider this. You and I can choose to live in a world of time scarcity, or in a world of time abundance.

Scarcity is familiar – active, stressful, and frequently frustrating. You just never get enough done, no matter how much you do! Could that be because you have 2 or more 8th graders at work on the process?

How about abundance? If you choose abundance, you have all the time there is! Wow! Consider how it would feel to live in a world where you had all the time there was! Think what your life would feel like, and be like, in a world of slow time, of time abundance.

And, if you’re an entrepreneur or business owner, you can move from Chief Employee Time to CEO Time. There’s a spreadsheet on my website which details the comparison. Would you agree that you are far more valuable to your business as a CEO than a Chief Employee? And, if you’ve remarked that you never have time to be CEO, consider that if in the world of Slow or Abundant time, you absolutely can create that time.

Advantages of Fast or Scarcity Time – many tasks addressed at once. Urgency concerns addressed. Liability- time scarcity, work performed superficially. Anxiety, panic, stress, incompletion.

Advantages of Slow or Abundant Time – tasks addressed according to the needs of the task, with all your resources brought to bear.
Liability- need to shift mental gears, abandon panic, control your brain, your personal processes, yourself.

Now: the Payoff.

My biggest surprise in this inquiry: I didn’t realize that I had the choice!

I’m beginning to think that this concept – choice- is pretty important.

We can live and manage in either world, or both. All we have to do is choose, and shift gears.
Does this sound like something you’d like to try, or we should talk about?

_________________________

Feedback request.
If you take on this inquiry, I’d love to hear about the result. Much appreciate any and all comments. Seen as contribution: Criticism, complaint, suggestions.

Phone calls also welcome. 516 944-6454

Craig Jennings

1)  “Your Brain At Work,” David Rock.,  Harper-Collins publishers
2) For much more on the concepts of scarcity and abundance, see Coaching Into Greatness, by Kim George,  published by John Wylie and Sons.