Don't watch the clock

Image Couretsy: Nathan Dumlao, Unsplash.com

Is it Tuesday, or Friday? Who cares?

Last week, Stephen Colbert tweeted, “The last two weeks have been a strange 10 years.” The simple explanation is that because of the absence of change in our environments and activities, time is stretching and twisting to feel much longer than it normally does. The uncertainty of our times, when this will end and what the future will look like, leaves us stuck in a never-ending present. These factors are mixing with the 9-5 lifestyles being challenged to consider how to structure our days in the ways that feel productive or worthwhile.

Research has suggested that how we think about and perceive time also affects our mental health. One might feel lost and confused because we have so much time right now. Therefore, routines are important and improve our mental health. No matter what’s going on in our day, knowing that we will have lunch between 1 and 2 pm can be a real comfort. The certainty of our routine helps us to manage the uncertainty that life can throw up. When we have a routine, we don’t have to try to remember things and get overwhelmed with a long to-do list. For example, we don’t have to remember to brush our teeth before breakfast everyday. It takes the guesswork out of our day, which makes us feel more in control. Having a routine allows us to build daily habits like regular bedtime, time to cook or unwind, which helps our mental well-being. Hence, structured time has proved to be an important tool to stay physically, emotionally and mentally healthy.

But here is the kicker. With no specific end-date of normalcy, routines can seem never-ending and pointless. Hence, setting a timetable would appear meaningless because minutes, hours and days have lost their relevance, currently. We find ourselves stuck in a loop and even though the pace of time hasn’t changed, it is our perception of it that affects our mental health.

In past research, done on people not living through a pandemic, Hal Hershfield, a psychologist at UCLA, found that people who thought the present lasted for longer periods of time were not as motivated to plan for the future. “The implication might be that if time loses meaning, and we are in this perpetual present, it may be more difficult to do things for the long run. I am not sure that time itself has actually lost meaning. But I am worried that people are losing meaning within these stretches of time because we are not quite sure what to do with ourselves,” says Hershfield. But there is a way to manage this conundrum. It is not a novel idea but a nudge to re-look at how to approach it to achieve more from the time you currently have in abundance and don’t know what to do with it.

I call it TASK TABLE not a timetable.

It can be compared to “event time”, in which events begin and end according to parameters other than time. Research has found that people who live with event time feel more in control of their lives. It is the same for tasks, because tasks are not related to one another or controlled by human agency or will and can be shuffled or rescheduled.

Let’s look at in real time to get a better sense of what I am saying. Say you are in a job, your day would have looked something like this, before lock-down; alarm clock at 6:30 am, breakfast at 7:30 am, arrival at work at 9:00 am, work until noon, one hour lunch break, work again till 6:00 pm, return home by 7:00 pm, sit with family till 7:30 pm or complete a chore by 8:00 pm, eat dinner at 8:30 pm, watch TV or read a book and go to bed by 11:00 pm.

But it’s not the same now therefore approaching our life as an event or task would look like this; begin the day with a natural awakening, followed by a physical task of stretching, yoga or any form of exercise, make or have breakfast and when you feel ready, begin work. Once at work, stay there until hunger calls. Eat lunch and resume work. Continue to work until you decide that it is time to stop, tomorrow is another day. Whether you are student, homemaker or retired you could apply the same technique to your daily lives by simply replacing time-bound schedules to task-bound schedules. Personally, for me its been working well. I decide what dishes I want to prepare for the day and complete the task of cooking without spending my whole day planning and prepping for every meal. So say, you are a student, once online classes end take a break when you are ready begin homework or assignments, followed with a hobby, you decide when it is time to stop and catch up with friends online, eat dinner and call it a day.

The idea is to lose the shackles of the clock and introduce a bit more flexibility in completing daily tasks. I am not suggesting that you do away with structure, which could look like you could eat ice cream at 9:00 am or drink whiskey at 10:00 am. All I am recommending is to replace time with tasks (routine and new). You could further improve your task table by introducing rituals, for example, on a Friday evening, switch off your work laptop and switch to your personal laptop or wear a small ring while doing assignments and take it off to mark the end of the work/college day.

Being able to keep some rhythm, some structure, can help in making our lives feel normal in these abnormal times. I do hope you can give this strategy a try and share your feedback.