Time management is an integral part of the Good Life Engine course. Sometimes, it feels it should be the whole course on its own, so important the topic is. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that majority of working or studying (or working and studying) people living in a constant feeling of time famine. Where is it coming from?
Let’s start from the beginning - How do we perceive time?
For me (like for many), it is a limited resource, something I never have enough to cover my to-do list. At the same time, when I am waiting (let’s say I am in the line for regular doctor appointment), time passes so slowly and painfully if I don’t stare into my phone to check the news, answer email, or just scroll social media. Another moment, time flies so fast that I barely notice that day passed by. Meanwhile, it was the whole day of my life.
I often worried how I would spend my time, how much time do I have left, will I manage to master X, or see Y, or experience Z. Do I waste my time or do I live in a most time-efficient way?
My perception of time is influenced by the historical approach. Different cultures perceive time differently.
The historical approach organises past events into a causal series, viewing them consecutively as outcomes of preceding events. We associate the temporal process with the emergence of a new state rather than a return to a previous one. Time is considered irreversible, leading to a sense of time pressure.
Heraclitus once said, "Panta Rhei"—everything flows. The past cannot be changed, and we cannot relive the same experiences because identical situations will never repeat. This reality places pressure on us regarding our actions and decisions as irreversible. Thus, it feels like time must be spent effectively and wisely.
However, there is an alternative approach to perceiving time—the cosmological perspective. This viewpoint relates events to a initial state in the future or in the past (creation of the World, the birth and death of Jesus or another god, the Doomsday). As an example, I assess my actions and decisions not in relevance of their consequences but in relevance of the whole existence of the humankind (am I following the covenants of Christ) or the Doomsday of the humankind (does it make sense if we all will die). Events in this primaeval time are constantly reproduced in subsequent events. In Buddhist thought, time is seen as reversible, with the Bodhisattva reversing the flow of time and retracing previous existences in an inverted order. This perspective challenges the notion of time as a constant emergence, presenting it as something that exists. The second approach reduces a feeling of scarcity of time and its linear flow (reference: Semiotics and culture: The perception of time as a semiotic problem; Boris Uspenskij).
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