Transcripts

George Lawrence-Ell :
Time is a perception and we don't experience time the way that we measure it, in fixed units of hours and days, months and years. Two hours spent in a dentist chair is not two hours spent on a honeymoon.

George Lawrence-Ell, author of the book, The Invisible Clock says we often talk about time as if it is some "thing."

I wish I had more time, I don't have time for that, I'm running out of time, this is a waste of time. We have an alarm clock that sets us off first thing in the morning; it's an ALARM clock, it implies that we're already late. Ask a friend out to lunch, they look at their watch, a watch can't tell you if you're hungry or not. It can't tell you whether you want to spend time with this person but we look at it. We have quality time; I ask the question what does that imply about the OTHER time we spend with our kids or our loved ones.

Too often, says George, we become focused on the time we have to do something rather than the thing we have to do.

And that is the point. It's our experience of time that counts. The clock and the calendar are tools that help us coordinate what we're doing. But we wouldn't walk into a kitchen to decide what to eat based on the pots and pans that are available. We don't look around and say do I want a sandwich do I want soup or a salad based on the kitchen utensils. And the tools of time shouldn't limit us either. Time pressure is a feeling, it's not a fact.

At somethingyoushouldknow.net I'm Mike Carruthers and that's Something You Should Know.