Internet Time has emerged as the gold standard for compressing time. When we say something is on Internet Time, we mean that it will be done in a much shorter cycle or period than we would normally expect. Thus, a year of regular time will be 9 months or perhaps 6 months on Internet Time. Things do not last as long on the Internet, things happen faster on the Internet, fame and fortune pass more quickly on the Internet, life is faster on the Internet. Life before the Internet was mostly 9-5; life is now 24-7. On the Internet, you can send and receive mail within minutes seven days a week, 24 hours a day. You can get legal, medical, financial or personal advice any time of the day and any day of the week. The Internet is never out or on sick leave, vacation or busy. You can buy and sell within minutes on Craig’s List and you can achieve instant fame on YouTube or MySpace.
We once thought that a New York minute was quick but it has been replaced as a quick standard by the Internet. The Swatch Company has even tried to define a system of Internet time. In the Swatch system, the current Internet Time is the same all over the World (no time zones or daylight saving time adjustments). There are some real pluses and minuses to this system. The biggest plus being that no time conversions are necessary since it is the same time everywhere. This might seem peculiar but it makes sense when we are all on the Internet because day and night no longer matter. We do our transactions on cyber time. Day and night time do not matter on cyber time.
Are you Internet savvy? Have you taken advantage of the Internet as a way to increase your productivity and personal effectiveness? Alternatively, are you sick of emails, spasm, hackers, viruses and expectations for service and replies almost instantaneously? Ironic that a system with so much potential could also become such a nightmare for many of us! How has the Internet changed your life? Has the Internet affected your perception of time? Has it been for the better or for the worse?
Saturday, November 14, 2009
Friday, November 13, 2009
Day 317 of the Calendar Year
The economics of time- there is an economy to everything. There is an economy of commerce, an economy of ecology, an economy of travel and an economy of time. However, not much has been written about the economics of time. So we must ask the question: what are the key principles of an economics of time? I would suggest the following key principles:
1. Time and money, like matter and energy are interchangeable.
2. Saving time means saving money.
3. Time is a valuable resource. Wasting time is wasting money.
4. Time cannot be saved, like we save money.
5. Time grows in value as we age, while money diminishes in value.
6. We all start out each day anew with 24 hours of time.
7. We can leverage time like we leverage money.
8. Time is not equal for all people. Some of us can use time more productively
than others.
9. Unless you prioritize your time, you will never know what it is worth.
10. Each day of our lives has the potential to be the most valuable day we will
ever spend.
11. Once you are dead, you forfeit all of your time.
Adelheid Blesecker writes that a view such as described above (wherein time is regarded as a scare resource) “ensures the acceleration of economic processes. This in turn damages the reproductive cycles of social life and the natural environment” (Economic Rationales and a Wealth of Time, Time and Society, Vol 7, No 1, 1998). He argues that a future sustainable economy must be based on an understanding of time wherein our natural cycles and rhythms are taken into account. As one example, a system of work based on linear time and traditional time clocks is counterproductive to our natural work rhythms and cycles. Who can be productive, innovative or resourceful as soon as the clock strikes 8 AM and then work like a machine for 8 hours pumping out ideas, innovation and imagination? Although we espouse living in the new knowledge era, we still treat work and time as though we lived in the feudal era.
I believe some of the principles I listed above can be useful and some can be counterproductive. Time to me is a valuable resource. However, I do not see time the same as money. I do not wake up with twenty four new dollars each morning to spend and as far as I know, most robbers are still looking for money and not time. In addition, time does get more valuable as we age and it is a scarce commodity. Maybe we should think of time as we do jewels. We regard them as precious and we admire them and want to save them and keep them in good condition.
What if each day our goal was to treat our twenty four hours as twenty four precious jewels? We would nurture and cherish each one of these twenty four jewels by admiring and protecting them. What would your day be like, if you treated your time as precious jewels? Each time an hour is up, you must put your precious gem away until tomorrow. Would you think about your day any differently? How would you spend your gems today? What would you do with them? What would it mean to you to keep your gems safe and in good condition?
1. Time and money, like matter and energy are interchangeable.
2. Saving time means saving money.
3. Time is a valuable resource. Wasting time is wasting money.
4. Time cannot be saved, like we save money.
5. Time grows in value as we age, while money diminishes in value.
6. We all start out each day anew with 24 hours of time.
7. We can leverage time like we leverage money.
8. Time is not equal for all people. Some of us can use time more productively
than others.
9. Unless you prioritize your time, you will never know what it is worth.
10. Each day of our lives has the potential to be the most valuable day we will
ever spend.
11. Once you are dead, you forfeit all of your time.
Adelheid Blesecker writes that a view such as described above (wherein time is regarded as a scare resource) “ensures the acceleration of economic processes. This in turn damages the reproductive cycles of social life and the natural environment” (Economic Rationales and a Wealth of Time, Time and Society, Vol 7, No 1, 1998). He argues that a future sustainable economy must be based on an understanding of time wherein our natural cycles and rhythms are taken into account. As one example, a system of work based on linear time and traditional time clocks is counterproductive to our natural work rhythms and cycles. Who can be productive, innovative or resourceful as soon as the clock strikes 8 AM and then work like a machine for 8 hours pumping out ideas, innovation and imagination? Although we espouse living in the new knowledge era, we still treat work and time as though we lived in the feudal era.
I believe some of the principles I listed above can be useful and some can be counterproductive. Time to me is a valuable resource. However, I do not see time the same as money. I do not wake up with twenty four new dollars each morning to spend and as far as I know, most robbers are still looking for money and not time. In addition, time does get more valuable as we age and it is a scarce commodity. Maybe we should think of time as we do jewels. We regard them as precious and we admire them and want to save them and keep them in good condition.
What if each day our goal was to treat our twenty four hours as twenty four precious jewels? We would nurture and cherish each one of these twenty four jewels by admiring and protecting them. What would your day be like, if you treated your time as precious jewels? Each time an hour is up, you must put your precious gem away until tomorrow. Would you think about your day any differently? How would you spend your gems today? What would you do with them? What would it mean to you to keep your gems safe and in good condition?
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Day 316 of the Calendar Year
Life’s too short is another often heard expression having a variety of meanings. However, what is life too short for? Some people change the entire world in a lifetime, while others make hardly a scratch in time. Life’s too short to spend: “Watching TV, wasting time arguing with a fool, lying in bed doing nothing, waiting for a late airplane or missing the parade.” Though for others, this list of activities may be just the thing they want to do most. My list of things that life is too short for will not be your list of things. The following poem by Nancy Thelot has some nice thoughts about what life is worth living for and what life is really too short for:
Live: By Nancy Thelot
Tomorrow is promised to no one
enjoy your life
don't hold grudges; life is too short for that
laugh more, cry less
please yourself; you can't please everyone
every day is a blessing treat it as such
take the time to smell the roses
watch the sun set
live your life to the fullest
hug your love ones
let the past stay where it belongs: in the past
just live.
When you end each day, do you feel that it was a day well spent? Can you look back on your life and say that you spent most of your days in worthwhile activities? Will you be able to end your life with “no regrets?” If you can answer yes to these questions, you are undoubtedly making the most of your life. If not, you are probably spending time in too many useless and unproductive ways. What could you do to have a more fulfilling and satisfying life? What would help you to eliminate the “life’s too short for” activities?
Live: By Nancy Thelot
Tomorrow is promised to no one
enjoy your life
don't hold grudges; life is too short for that
laugh more, cry less
please yourself; you can't please everyone
every day is a blessing treat it as such
take the time to smell the roses
watch the sun set
live your life to the fullest
hug your love ones
let the past stay where it belongs: in the past
just live.
When you end each day, do you feel that it was a day well spent? Can you look back on your life and say that you spent most of your days in worthwhile activities? Will you be able to end your life with “no regrets?” If you can answer yes to these questions, you are undoubtedly making the most of your life. If not, you are probably spending time in too many useless and unproductive ways. What could you do to have a more fulfilling and satisfying life? What would help you to eliminate the “life’s too short for” activities?
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Day 315 of the Calendar Year
Bedtime - Who can think of a more popular or at least a more universal time in the world? When freely chosen, it is a time that many of us (though certainly not all) look forward to. During winters, we crawl between the nice warm covers and kiss the problems of the day goodbye. During summers, we revel in the warmth when we do not need sheets and the daylight does not wane until long after we have closed our eyes. Some of us see it as a time for reading, some for a time of sex and some just to forget and put another day behind them. Kids see it as an imposition, perhaps imposed by adult authority. “I don’t want to go to bed” is a common childhood complaint not shared by many of their esteemed parents. Some of us drop off to sleep seconds after we lie down and others have to count thousands of sheep jumping over the wall until we are finally in slumberland. Some of us sleep lie a rock and others sleep so lightly that even a cat would wake them up. Some of us dream of wonderful places and people and our thoughts at night are filled with unicorns and rainbows. Others have nightmares of torture, abuse and killers chasing them through the halls of time. Some of us have dreams that we hope may someday come true, while some of us hope that we can just forget.
Scientists tell us that sleep is a time of rejuvenation for both the body and mind. Our muscles relax and rest. Our stress and lactic acid dissipates into the night. Our mind clears itself from the problems, strains, anxieties and worries of today so that we can start tomorrow with a clean slate. No one in the world can survive without sleep. Yet many of us have insomnia and other sleep maladies that prevent us from getting a good nights rest. For some, bedtime is just a continuation of the anxieties that beset them during the day. And sadly, some problems do not disappear at night and are simply put on hold until the morning.
Would the world be a better place if we could all get a good nights sleep? How often do you get a good nights sleep? Do you dread going to bed or do you look forward to it? What would help you to get a good night sleep every night?
Scientists tell us that sleep is a time of rejuvenation for both the body and mind. Our muscles relax and rest. Our stress and lactic acid dissipates into the night. Our mind clears itself from the problems, strains, anxieties and worries of today so that we can start tomorrow with a clean slate. No one in the world can survive without sleep. Yet many of us have insomnia and other sleep maladies that prevent us from getting a good nights rest. For some, bedtime is just a continuation of the anxieties that beset them during the day. And sadly, some problems do not disappear at night and are simply put on hold until the morning.
Would the world be a better place if we could all get a good nights sleep? How often do you get a good nights sleep? Do you dread going to bed or do you look forward to it? What would help you to get a good night sleep every night?
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Day 314 of the Calendar Year
A “sign of the times” may be the poor attitudes of teenagers today. But wait, wasn’t that a sign of the times during the days of Socrates? We often hear this expression used to denote something that seems symbolic or emblematic of the era we are living in. “Sign of the times” is a phrase strongly associated with Roman Catholicism in the era of the Second Vatican Council. It was taken to mean that the Church should listen to, and learn from, the world around it.” (wikipedia.org)
The problem is we do not have any good reference point to compare our times to. Most of us do not have a very good knowledge of history or of what happened even a few years ago. We all tend to forget how things really were. So we think: crime is worse today, teenagers are worse today, life is harder today, etc. Then we say it’s a sign of the times. However, it could easily be a sign of many times and eras gone by. What then are the dependable and predictable signs that would allow us to say with certainty that our times are different than past times?
Very few things really emerge that make good signs of the times. Rising costs and rising taxes have been true forever. War, famine and pestilence were frequent during the days of the Pharaohs and are still with us today. Disease kills millions yearly and people do not really seem any less or more happy than in days gone by. Is life easier or more difficult? You would probably find it depended on who you asked. How then can we find a true and accurate “sign of the times?” Bottom line is you will probably not. The idea sounds good on paper but it is just too subjective. There are few signs that exist today, that could irrefutably tell you what year or even decade it was, without the value of hindsight. Twenty years from now, it will be possible to look back at today and say things about it with some certainty but the present is never certain. That is why the past cannot predict the future.
On the other hand, maybe you can think of some good signs of the times. What do you think are the signs of the time today? How would these compare to your signs twenty years ago? Do you think your signs would hold up if you went back two thousand years? Will these still be signs five or ten years from now? When do signs become obsolete?
The problem is we do not have any good reference point to compare our times to. Most of us do not have a very good knowledge of history or of what happened even a few years ago. We all tend to forget how things really were. So we think: crime is worse today, teenagers are worse today, life is harder today, etc. Then we say it’s a sign of the times. However, it could easily be a sign of many times and eras gone by. What then are the dependable and predictable signs that would allow us to say with certainty that our times are different than past times?
Very few things really emerge that make good signs of the times. Rising costs and rising taxes have been true forever. War, famine and pestilence were frequent during the days of the Pharaohs and are still with us today. Disease kills millions yearly and people do not really seem any less or more happy than in days gone by. Is life easier or more difficult? You would probably find it depended on who you asked. How then can we find a true and accurate “sign of the times?” Bottom line is you will probably not. The idea sounds good on paper but it is just too subjective. There are few signs that exist today, that could irrefutably tell you what year or even decade it was, without the value of hindsight. Twenty years from now, it will be possible to look back at today and say things about it with some certainty but the present is never certain. That is why the past cannot predict the future.
On the other hand, maybe you can think of some good signs of the times. What do you think are the signs of the time today? How would these compare to your signs twenty years ago? Do you think your signs would hold up if you went back two thousand years? Will these still be signs five or ten years from now? When do signs become obsolete?
Monday, November 9, 2009
Day 313 of the Calendar Year
Time’s Arrow is a conception of time visualized as an arrow. “A metaphor apparently first used by Sir Arthur Eddington in 1927. This conception has not always been the commonsense view; the ancient Greeks, for example, thought that time consisted of a series of cycles, without beginning or end." (Paul Davies, New Scientist, 11-1-1997, Issue 2106). In Christianity, time has a more linear sense than in Buddhism or Hinduism. Christians believe that if they lead a good life, they will die and go to heaven. “Hinduism believes in the rebirth and reincarnation of souls. In Hinduism, death is a temporary cessation of physical activity, a means of recycling the resources and energy and an opportunity for the jiva (that part which incarnates) to review its programs and policies (http://www.hinduwebsite.com ). Buddhists have a somewhat similar view to Hindus in that they believe only the body dies but the soul seeks out a new form and is born again.
These views of time as either cyclical or linear (an arrow) seem to be more dependent on where we were born or the religion we embrace than on any actual evidence that time goes one direction or another; or for that matter that time even exists except in our minds. The way we approach the world in Western society appears to be very different than in Eastern societies with a more cyclical view of life. Throughout our lives, we bounce between these two views of time. We live by circadian rhythms but we measure our time in a linear fashion until retirement and old age. We laugh at the inevitable cycles of fads and fashions and trends but we watch in dismay as the new generation replaces the old and throws out the culture and traditions we so cherished. We live by clocks where time goes round and round and by calendars where time is as straight as an arrow measuring each of the 365 days in a year that in one year will be replaced by the next year.
What does “time’s arrow” really mean? For most of us, it might seem to be just an abstraction that hardly affects our daily lives unless we stop for a few minutes and reflect on it. Upon reflection, we can see that it actually does have quite a bit of impact. Our economics, politics, governments and health care are built on a conception of time as either cyclical or linear. Each and every one of us is affected by our own personal view of how time progresses. Do you see time as linear and measure it as running out and running down? Or do you see time as a never ending series of cycles that continually repeat? Will you be born again or will you simply die? What if you could change how you saw time? What difference would it make in your life? Would you lead your life any differently?
These views of time as either cyclical or linear (an arrow) seem to be more dependent on where we were born or the religion we embrace than on any actual evidence that time goes one direction or another; or for that matter that time even exists except in our minds. The way we approach the world in Western society appears to be very different than in Eastern societies with a more cyclical view of life. Throughout our lives, we bounce between these two views of time. We live by circadian rhythms but we measure our time in a linear fashion until retirement and old age. We laugh at the inevitable cycles of fads and fashions and trends but we watch in dismay as the new generation replaces the old and throws out the culture and traditions we so cherished. We live by clocks where time goes round and round and by calendars where time is as straight as an arrow measuring each of the 365 days in a year that in one year will be replaced by the next year.
What does “time’s arrow” really mean? For most of us, it might seem to be just an abstraction that hardly affects our daily lives unless we stop for a few minutes and reflect on it. Upon reflection, we can see that it actually does have quite a bit of impact. Our economics, politics, governments and health care are built on a conception of time as either cyclical or linear. Each and every one of us is affected by our own personal view of how time progresses. Do you see time as linear and measure it as running out and running down? Or do you see time as a never ending series of cycles that continually repeat? Will you be born again or will you simply die? What if you could change how you saw time? What difference would it make in your life? Would you lead your life any differently?
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Day 312 of the Calendar Year
The “time trap” is an expression we have all heard before, but what is a “time trap?” What exactly qualifies something for being a time trap? Is a time trap like a mouse trap where time runs in and can’t get out? Or is it only a figurative illusion for something that eats our time up? Is it simply a person, place or thing that captures our time and will not let it go?
It's barely yours on loan
What you think you own
The place that you call home
The ideas in your bones (in your bones)
This would still feel dumb
Back where you're from
Do you (do you) want to change your mind
Do you want to change your mind
Cause you could never know that
In a time trap
In a time trap (Lyrics by the Built to Spill Band)
Some things that come to mind as time traps for me are the following: working on a computer bug, a wedding, working in the yard, doing a word puzzle or cleaning up the house. Time traps are things that unexpectedly capture our time or use up more of our time than we had originally allocated. For some of us, time traps are a routine hazard of life. Just like sand traps on a golf course, we see them, but can’t avoid them. Once we fall into them, they are very difficult to get out of. Of course, this metaphor suggests that we want to avoid them and that may not be the case. Many of us like to find some type of activity to spend our time on and for us, it is not a time trap. It all becomes very relative. One person’s trap is another’s passion. What constitutes a time trap for one person might be a joyful use of time for another. What are those things in your life that you consider “time traps?” How do you avoid or get out of them? How often do you still fall into them?
It's barely yours on loan
What you think you own
The place that you call home
The ideas in your bones (in your bones)
This would still feel dumb
Back where you're from
Do you (do you) want to change your mind
Do you want to change your mind
Cause you could never know that
In a time trap
In a time trap (Lyrics by the Built to Spill Band)
Some things that come to mind as time traps for me are the following: working on a computer bug, a wedding, working in the yard, doing a word puzzle or cleaning up the house. Time traps are things that unexpectedly capture our time or use up more of our time than we had originally allocated. For some of us, time traps are a routine hazard of life. Just like sand traps on a golf course, we see them, but can’t avoid them. Once we fall into them, they are very difficult to get out of. Of course, this metaphor suggests that we want to avoid them and that may not be the case. Many of us like to find some type of activity to spend our time on and for us, it is not a time trap. It all becomes very relative. One person’s trap is another’s passion. What constitutes a time trap for one person might be a joyful use of time for another. What are those things in your life that you consider “time traps?” How do you avoid or get out of them? How often do you still fall into them?
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