Hey!
This week I want to share an idea that I found in the book “Four Thousand Weeks” by Oliver Burkeman, a great book that I read recently.
It is an idea from a chapter of this book that focuses on a behavior that turns out to be a common consequence for people who are trying to make the most of their time; this behavior is instrumentalizing our time.
Instrumentalization of time
I think that for most of us, the world we live in pushes us to want to be more productive, it can sometimes feel like there are always more things to do and more goals to accomplish; in this process, it can be very common for us to find better ways to manage our time in order to meet these demands.
As a consequence of this, we may end up instrumentalizing our time, where we value our time only to the extent that it can help lay the foundations for a future outcome.
This can take multiple shapes, such as resting for it will make us more productive, trying meditation because the peace of mind will help us perform better, raising children carefully out of a desire for them to become healthy and productive adults, or when we tell ourselves that we’ll be happy and fulfilled once we accomplish X goal or project.
These in the end can all become forms of placing the value of our lives in the future at the expense of the present
The problem
After understanding the gest of this concept, it is worth considering if it is a problem or not.
After all, it may not sound too crazy to want your children to grow up into healthy adults or to improve your performance at work. But what happens when our entire lives start to revolve around this one point in the future? And what if that future never comes?
I am not trying to say that all future thinking is negative, sometimes planning for the future is precisely what we need.
I think that for most people there's a middle ground that balances both being in the present and striving for the future, the thing is that this balance may look different for each individual.
For that reason I think that it is key for each of us to find the right balance for ourselves and identify the things that we value in both the present and the future; for this try to find your priorities in the present, like an experience that you enjoy and want to savor, and in the future, like a goal that is important to you.
Then, if you ever notice that you are leaving or sacrificing one of your priorities, this is when this kind of thinking or acting starts to become problematic.
A bitter-sweet solution
In the book, Burkeman presents an alternative that may help us solve the problem of instrumentalizing our time.
It is facing the unsettling reality that, due to the finite nature of our lives, there will always come a time when we do something for the last time, and at that moment there isn’t a single way for us to know that we’ll never get to do that again.
It could be one last conversation with a loved one, playing a sport you like for the last time because of an injury, or listening to your favorite song without knowing that you’ll never hear it again, the moment will eventually come.
This has always been an unsettling if not dreadful, prospect in my mind, but there is an outstanding silver lining to it.
It presents the opportunity to change the way we relate to our whole existence, by shifting it for one where value and savor each experience as if it were the last, because it may be.
I hope this post gave you some valuable insights, I hope you have a wonderful week.
-Alan