On Time Well Spent

Alice (1988)

Recognizing the productivity of our activities and finding the right balance between the convient and the inconvient to spend our time most efficiently, are both essentials to leading a fulfilling life. One of the most prominent issues that disturb our activities and aspirations is addiction. They suck time out of our lives, leaving us in a worse state than when we started. Still there are many different, seemingly small things that are a waste of our time; they numb your mind, only keeping you that tiny bit away from utter boredom. Most of these arise from your phone for example, yet they can also be solved by the smart use of your phone. It isn’t new when I say that social media is one of these small drugs, yet it still is most relevant if we look at how many children, teens and even adults consume it on a daily basis.

However interesting one of these 'shorts' may be, that one insightful short you watch, doesn’t make up for the hours you’ve spent scrolling mindlessly through that sea of mediocrity and egotism. Playing apps on your phone can also be unproductive, but only in abundance, since some apps challenge the mind or help improve relationships when playing with friends or family.

But most of these apps are played more often than is good for the individual, encouraging daily play and purchases. Whether it be teens checking Snapchat every hour of their lives, adults playing their daily twenty minutes of a Supercell game, or grannies grinding Candy Crush; in the long run, they’re all detrimental to our productivity, just a bad trade of time: unlucky.

These unproductive activities often hold your attention and provide that bit of necessary dopamine, but do you come away much different than when you started? Weren’t you better off doing another, more productive activity? But you were tired, weren’t you, you couldn’t have been doing something else more demanding, right? Most of the time, you aren’t tired to begin with, but when you are, this might be an excuse that pops up. After having a fair bit of work done, one usually feels a bit tired, but there are still things you can do to improve that state of mind. Some examples could be: taking some rest, going to the gym or taking a walk. 

But, since you do have the energy to play Clash Royale, read escapist literature, or watch bland Netflix shows, you can easily perform another, more productive activity instead that requires the same amount of energy from your 'tired' noodle, like playing an insightful, exciting game, whether it be an RPG or a socially stimulating game, reading insightful, exciting literature, whether it be a pulp adventure story or classic literature, or watching an insightful, exciting film or show, whether it be an immersive western or a Kurosawa samurai film -- and I could go on, but you get the point. There are certainly different degrees of difficulty within literature, cinema and the like, but I would argue that if you are tired, but still able to do the former, unproductive activities, you can most likely read or watch or play something more exciting, more insightful. You certainly don't have to start reading Milton or watching a Lynch film: build up slowly; something can be easier to digest while still being as insightful as 'serious' literature/ cinema/ etc.  It might take a bit more energy, but not too much, and if you're not even able to do that, then you should definitely take some rest, a walk, go to the gym, etc., to give your mind that much-needed rest.

Synecdoche, New York (2008)

Well, – before we get to the important question of what do we spend our time on? – how do we recognize and eliminate such unproductive activities? It’s certainly easier said than done, but the most important thing is actually recognizing the issues at play here, as many people aren’t actually aware of it in the first place. To recognize a time wasting activity one must ask three questions: do I come away from it any different than when I started? Is it consistently amusing or exciting? Do I contribute to someone else’s happiness (maybe in a way they aren’t able to do themselves)? 

The first question might be made more clear by these questions: have I learnt anything, be it about myself or the world around me? Have I gained a new experience? Have I improved a skill or relationship? Have I improved my state of mind or my health? Does it build toward a specific goal that is important to my development or the world and people around me?

The way of eliminating such activities is different for every person and I will just share my own personal experience. Whenever I feel the desire to do an unproductive activity, or when I find myself doing something unproductive, I try to recognize whether the activity is actually unproductive, analyze how it is unproductive, step away from it, think about the activity I was supposed to be doing, compare both activities, ignore the desire to perform the unproductive activity and actually perform the productive activity -- keeping in mind that one of the things that seperates mankind from the animal, from the primitive, is that we aren't completely controlled by the desires of the flesh, but that we have a willpower that can govern or abandon them.

You could make a list of all the unproductive activities you do, and a list of all the productive activities you have or like to do, and slowly replace the unproductive ones with the more productive ones you deem fit. You can also try to improve already reasonably productive activities. You want to expand your taste in classical music for example, so you every time you need to drive, or bike, or walk somewhere, you can put on the radio or wear your headphone or earphones and rock the greatest hits of Tchaikovsky or Bach. (or listen to a podcast)

Well, throughout this article, we have already sort of constructed an image of what a productive activity should look like. To clarify: an activity that improves either the understanding of the self or the world, the state of mind or health, a relationship, or an activity that excites, amuses, awes the individual, or builds toward a specific goal that is important to the development of the individual or the world and people around him: in short, an activity where you come away better than when you started. Just remember, that, little things, which might seem insignificant, might actually be of great importance: if one were to practice chess twenty minutes a day, one would be a world class chess champion by the end of his days, if one would read twenty minutes a day, one would have read a thousand books by the end of his days, and if one were... well, you get the point.

Well, you had to put that in there, didn't you!

Being aware of what you spend your time on and why spend your time on it, is, as we discussed, essential to leading a fulfilling life. Yet, there is a big difference between being aware of what you spend your time on and focusing on absolute efficiency in everything you do -- the latter being a rather  dangerous way of approaching life. The efficient way is rarely the most fruitful way. To illustrate my point: let's say we want to borrow a book from the library: the 'efficient man' would go online and simply borrow the book, having spent the least possible amount of time in acquiring said book. The other man, let's call him the 'inefficient man', would walk to the library (oh, here again being a difference in efficiency in terms of transport, but let's not take that into account here). We might agree that there is a fair chance that the 'inefficient man' will likely come to a sudden insight, or meet a new person, or explore a new place, or find a new interesting book in the library, etc. We could also argue that the 'inefficient man' also has the advantage of improving his physical health by walking or biking to the library, but we aren't taking that into account here. 

While we don't have to do inconvenient activities all the time, it's important that we understand our aspirations and goals and how they relate to our usage of time, that we recognize productive and unproductive occupations, and that we don't become obsessed over efficiency.

Why did I write this?  

Well, as therapy.