There is no easy way to state this truth, “Your time is limited, and one day you will die.” Knowing this is one thing, but embracing it is a different challenge that most of us try to escape.
“Life is so short!” “So many things to do, so less time!” These complaints have been around for centuries. The Greek philosopher Aristotle even put it as, “nature has fixed a much shorter limit for man, though he is born for so many and such great achievements.” But does the limitation of time matter to all the people who complain about it? Human history speaks otherwise.
Yes, the time is limited, but would you be better off if you had more than 1000 years? Almost 2000 years ago, Seneca, a Stoic philosopher, wrote his essay On Shortness of Life. In one section, he mentions a truth that may resonate with you even today:
“Though all the brilliant intellects of the ages were to concentrate upon this one theme, never could they adequately express their wonder at this dense darkness of the human mind. Men do not suffer anyone to seize their estates, and they rush to stones and arms if there is even the slightest dispute about the limit of their lands, yet they allow others to trespass upon their life — nay, they themselves even lead in those who will eventually possess it. No one is to be found who is willing to distribute his money, yet among how many does each one of us distribute his life! In guarding their fortune men are often closefisted, yet, when it comes to the matter of wasting time, in the case of the one thing in which it is right to be miserly, they show themselves most prodigal.”
How much of your already short time have you given away blindly as if you were immortal?
Lost in Loops
Gerotranscendence is the term used by Dr. Lars Tornstam, Swedish social gerontologist, to describe a phenomenon: As people get older, many of them experience a shift in meta-perspective, from a materialistic and rational view of the world to a more cosmic and transcendent one, normally accompanied by an increase in life satisfaction.
Similar transcendence is observed in people suffering from terminal conditions like cancer. But why? One explanation is that as a person faces the inevitable end, they are forced to see the futility of the narrow worldview they held on to earlier. Things like opinions, gossip, religious dogma, and social obligations, everything just loses its gravity. At this stage, people start valuing the little things they had been pushing off earlier, maybe a smile, or spending time with family, or a meaningful life project. They start to really live, loving life for what it is.
When we are younger, we chase what excites us. Could be a cool job, a new car, lavish parties, and so on. Most of it comes from looking at the lives of others or what the society deems as “cool” or “respectable.” But do we need all this for a good life? Are we trying to prove ourselves?
The desire for love and status is a fundamental need, as we saw in Maslow’s hierarchy earlier. Nothing wrong with seeking these, but always consider the price you are paying. Some common sacrifices include:
· Not working on a dream business idea because the salary from the current job is good
· Talking to loved ones rudely because of stress at work
· Spending lavishly on parties even if under a huge debt, because the ability to buy makes us feel powerful or owning more makes us feel superior to others
We all have our own versions of this list.
In essence, we commit to things we might regret, but just because everyone around us does them, we do them as well. And since there are countless people in this world, there are countless things to do.
If lived in this manner, one’s life becomes a story of countless half-hearted efforts and mind-numbing obligations. Till the last moment, lying to self that “this really matters” until one fine day they suddenly realize that now they are too old and all that is left are lost dreams and a life they could have LIVED.
The Way of the Emperor
“You could leave life right now. Let that determine what you do and say and think,” were the words of Marcus Aurelius, the last of the Five Good Emperors of Rome. While some might take it as a reason to go on a party spree, Aurelius used it to live a life of virtue. As a king, Aurelius could be easily lost in distractions and temptations, with everyone seeking his favor and anything just a command away. But he chose to use his limited time to help his people, be kind even to prisoners (uncommon in the world even today), and above all, be a good husband and father.
No matter how busy a day was, he always took out time for journaling to reflect upon how he spent his time and learn for the next day. Eventually, he mastered his time and thus his life. In fact, his journal was full of such great wisdom that people published it after he died. Centuries later, it is still in publication today under the title Meditations.
Time is More than Just Money
We want you to look at the Garden of your life and remove all the weeds you have allowed to grow so far. This means you must be objective about how you spend your time. The easiest way to do this is Timeboxing.
Here is how it works: You divide your day into fixed time boxes (chunks), say, of 30 minutes each. This means, 1 day = 30 min X 48 boxes. Next, shift your mindset. Visualize that doing each task means you are spending a box on it, like spending limited tickets on amusement park rides. Once you run out of planned boxes, you cannot do that task anymore.
Used by the likes of Elon Musk (infamous for his 5 min boxes!) and Casey Neistat, this method works like a miracle because you put a limit on the time you can spend on things. Usual benefits are:
It makes you value your time because now you have limited boxes per task. Nothing less, nothing more
Increased awareness of time spent unconsciously on wasteful activities (call it time-leakage)
Work-life balance improves because personal timeboxes cannot be spent on work
Higher productivity at work due to no boxes being available for wasteful activities like gossips or obligatory meetings
You become more grateful for the time that others devote to you (unless they do not value their own time 😜)
And for a thousandth time, we emphasize: None of this works if you do not commit to it. The value of timeboxing lies in sticking to your planned boxes per task. There can be exceptions but if a task frequently takes more boxes than planned, it means either you need to allocate more boxes to it or improve the skill required for the task.