Are You Really Saving Time?

By Dr. Jeri Fink

Have you ever thought about how much time you save in any given day? Consider some of the sexiest time-saving techniques in the marketplace:

• High-speed computers
• Quik-shave razors
• Blistering fast microwave ovens
• Online shopping

The list is always growing. In fact, if you check out Amazon.com you'll find 107 books listed under "saving time." They cover everything from cooking and making weddings to investing and owning horses. "Time-saving tips" are so common that most of us probably have stacks of them tucked away in our chaotic kitchen drawers. "Saving time" advice columns are almost as popular as Dear Abby.

So why, if we've saved so much time, are we always running out of it?

Let's look at some of those items that save our time. Cell phones are at the top of the list. We're told that we can save time by making telephone calls whenever or wherever necessary. We don't have to find a pay phone or drive to our offices or homes. Our cell phones are there, ready and waiting.

What really happens? First we take on more work because we know that we can make our telephone calls driving, walking, or commuting. We can shift business calls into the ten-minute trek to the lunch - filling those same minutes with more paperwork. Or we can call friends while we're driving - cramming our "saved time" with some other vital activity. But it's not just cell phones. How do you use the "saved time" when you microwave dinner instead of baking it slowly in the oven? What happens to those precious minutes "saved" by using a computer instead of pen-and-pencil? Where do we store the time "saved" by eating fast food, wearing permanent press shirts instead of ironing, or listening to TV news instead of reading the newspaper?

You're not really saving time - you're actually adding more things to do. Our concept of time has become hopelessly skewed by our frantic search to save it. The result? Time has become an elusive product that everyone wants, no one can accumulate enough of, and everyone struggles to find more. How many advertisements, television dramas, and articles refer to the "gift of time?" How often in any given day do you say "I wish I had more time?"

The dictionary defines time as "a nonspatial continuum where events occur in irreversible succession from the past through the present to the future." In other words, you can't hold it, you can't touch it, and yet it marches forward whether you like it or not. By definition, it's impossible to save time. The only thing you can do is spend time wisely, using it to make your life richer as you move from the past, through the present, to the future. That cell phone doesn't save time - it's a vehicle that divides the time you have available. Whether you spend your time on a cell phone or quietly enjoying that ten-minute walk to lunch doesn't really matter in the long run. It's still going to pass - whether you like it or not.

Maybe it's time to stop thinking about saving time and look at how you're spending it. Does the time in your day add up, at bedtime, to something that makes you feel productive - good about yourself and the people you love? Do you ever think about consciously sitting down and prioritizing your time? Or do you persist in racing time - and inevitably losing?

How about making it time for a change? After all is said and done, time is our most valuable commodity. If we use it poorly or think we can save it by overstuffing our lives with extras, than perhaps that's the greatest time loss of all.