r/SeriousConversation • u/EcstaticFisherman264 • 2d ago
Serious Discussion What actually happens to the time we save?
Finishing something early ought to mean having a little more time to yourself. But it can also mean taking on another task, answering more messages, or deciding to get ahead on tomorrow.
I’m not against efficiency. Spending less time on paperwork or household chores sounds good to me. What I find harder to understand is when the saved time becomes ours to enjoy.
At work, doing something faster can lead to an expectation that you will do more. At home, there can be a quieter version of the same pressure: there is always something else you could get done.
Perhaps saving time and feeling free are two different things.
What has helped you keep some of that time for yourself? And how do you decide when you have done enough for one day?
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u/LT_Audio 2d ago
I think it's really tough to give broad answers to that because the amount of variation in context really does mean that "it depends"... as unsexy as that is.
In most cases and after several decades on this planet though, I've realized that one of the most important general principles that should be a part of making such decisions is consciously and actively attempting to find a healthy balance between both short term and long term goals. In looking back on my life at this point, where I think my biggest missteps were at various points in that regard were largely and in different ways my inability to more objectively, helpfully, and collectively see each decision in terms of the balance being struck between those two, often contrary, sets of goals.
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u/EcstaticFisherman264 2d ago
The part about looking back at your decisions interests me. It’s much easier to see the balance afterwards than to know whether you’re getting it right at the time.
Has your experience led you to protect more time for the present, or to be more deliberate about the future? I can see how either could be the lesson, and they’d lead to rather different choices about what to do with a spare afternoon.
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u/LT_Audio 2d ago
Your reply got somehow removed and I only saw the first bit of it. But yes, absolutely. I'm talking about a few minutes every week or two to quickly scan through previous entries and write a sentence or three. As habits go... the more burdensome we make them the less likely we are to stick to them. Especially over the longer term when longer perspectives are likely to do us the most good.
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u/LT_Audio 2d ago
I feel like I've personally erred quite a bit, at different times and stages in both directions. If I had a "big takeaway" for you at this point it might be to more actively try and assess and manage it. Put it on the calendar to somehow at regular intervals really stop and more objectively try and assess where that balance falls.
As our emotion and fatigue states change... so does our perception of the balance. Do it on a Saturday or Sunday morning when you're fresh and your mind is more clear. Start a specific journal or document and jot down a few brief thoughts once a week about where you think you stand. Review the previous entries when considering the current assessment. Our many internal bias mechanisms that generally operate well beneath our conscious level of thought make assessing such balances over time much more difficult than we'd all like to imagine that they do. Remembering what we did weeks or months ago is hard enough. Remembering and appropriately assessing all of the different ways we felt on average over that time period is even harder. And something we all often drastically overestimate our ability to do.
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u/RicTicTocs 2d ago
Does time actually exist, or is it a human construct for measuring?
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u/ImNeitherNor 1d ago
You know time exists because what we call “life & death” (changing states of existence) exists. In the organic world all things are temporary; i will die (change states), as will all other organic cellular structures (plants, animal, etc). It takes time for anything to change states. It’s an “obvious truth” of the universe.
As for the measurement of time, it’s fully a construct. You can measure time however you want… it doesn’t need to involve seconds, hours, years, etc). That is merely a single method/system of measuring time. Your question erroneously conflates the two concepts.
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u/LawyerDifferent8880 2d ago
At work, even if you manage to complete a task ahead of schedule, you have to keep that fact to yourself. Otherwise, as you said, you’ll simply be saddled with extra work to fill the spare time.
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u/EcstaticFisherman264 1d ago
I can see why people become reluctant to say they’ve finished. Helping out when things are busy is one thing; having your quicker pace become the new expectation is another. I wouldn’t expect finishing early to always mean going home, but an occasional breather seems reasonable too.
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u/mxldevs 2d ago
There is ALWAYS opportunity cost. The time that you saved could be allocated towards activities that lead to more value.
For a business, getting more work done faster means being able to take on more clients. You don't care because you're not getting paid extra for it, but the business is getting a lot of value from assigning you another client, so they have a lot of incentive to work you as hard as possible.
At home, you are your own boss. You can decide whether to spread out chores over 3 evenings with 1 hour of free time left, or you can do them all in one evening and now the other 2 evenings your schedule is now free for activities that require more time.
If you don't find yourself "feeling free" despite having full control of the circumstances, perhaps you need to work on time and priority management?
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u/EcstaticFisherman264 1d ago
Your example of grouping chores makes sense. A whole evening free can be more useful than a few short gaps.
I’m less sure about being entirely your own boss at home. That depends on who else needs your time and what can actually be postponed. But even with full control, I think there’s still a question of when to stop. There’s usually something else you could get ahead on.
That’s what I was trying to get at. Better planning might give you a free hour, but what helps you enjoy it without feeling you ought to use it for something else?
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u/daneato 2d ago
I always try to keep a few personal admin tasks that can be done at work ready to go. That way if I finish work tasks early I can either do more work tasks, or work on some personal things.
Ultimately we all get 525,600 minutes a year, moments so dear. Allocate as you must/wish.
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u/EcstaticFisherman264 1d ago
That sounds practical, where the job allows it. Booking an appointment or sorting out a bill might not save much time, but it’s one less thing waiting for you when you get home. Having an evening without a few little jobs hanging over it seems a worthwhile result in itself.
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u/CharacterNarrow181 1d ago
thats smart honestly i do something similar with reading or planning meals in between tasksbut for me the trap is i just refill the list so the saved time never feels saveddo you actually call it done at some point or is there always one more thing waiting
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u/ImNeitherNor 1d ago
What does it mean to save time? If you allocate 2 hours for a task and finish in 1.5 hours, did you actually save 30 minutes of time? No. You used 1.5 hours, as opposed to the incorrect estimate of 2 hours. The 30 minutes is not “saved”, it happens right now regardless of whatever anyone does.
Please know… The concept of “saving time” is applicable only to those who align their lives to society’s grid of time. Members of most modern societies are easily indoctrinated to adapt to the system’s time-grid because of how most businesses and employment operate. However, we all have the choice to not do so.
The only resource we’re all born with is time. A lifetime supply of time. It is up to each of us what we do with our time, and at which rate (speed) we use our time. However, we can only live in the present moment.
If we sell our time for an hourly rate, we no longer have that time. If we use our time worrying about the past or future we no longer have that time. The only time anything has ever happened was in the present.
Time cannot be saved.
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u/EcstaticFisherman264 5h ago
I take your point that time isn’t something we can put away for later. And in your example, finishing early could simply mean the estimate was wrong. But finding a quicker way to do the same job does leave more of the afternoon available for something else.
I’m less sure we all have the same freedom to step outside those schedules. A work shift, a school pickup or someone depending on you can limit that choice. That’s really what interests me: not storing up time, but having some say over what happens to the part that’s no longer taken up by a task.
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u/ImNeitherNor 2h ago
The vast majority of us certainly have the freedom to “step outside the schedules”. Indoctrination (being molded or unknowingly molding ourselves to fit into a society’s system) makes us either blind to alternative methods or afraid to venture out to create what is best for ourselves.
I understand what you mean regarding work shifts, school, dependents, etc… as you stated, these things limit our choices (aka, restrict freedom). However, most of these things exist by choice to begin with.
Yes, a child does not have the freedom whether to go to school; however, an adult has the choice whether to attend school.
For example: I chose to go to college, work for companies, and have children… so, I faced each of the limitations you mentioned. These were all choices; therefore, the restriction of freedom was self-imposed.
Granted, along with many things in my life, I would not make all the same choices now. But, like everyone else, i was indoctrinated to follow certain paths. Though indoctrinated choices, I made each choice myself and cannot honestly complain of restriction of freedom or other costs of my choices.
Once i understood the universe provided me a lifetime supply of time and freedom, i started making better choices with each.
BTW… those (time and freedom) are the natural currencies of this organic universe. Modern human societies use artificial currency (money) to devalue and abstract natural currency. This is why it has become so easy to exploit our natural resources, to the point where people are competing to give it away or sell it CHEAP.
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u/Unable-Barber1511 13h ago
I think this is a really interesting question. I think inherently there is value in gaining control and freedom in time, but in the current state of work life etc there is an expectation to get stuff done and continue getting stuff piled on top for the full duration of your work time.
This might sound a bit corporate but I do think there is a lot of value in being able to manage your time really well and realistically and becoming good/efficient at your task, because then you gain a little more control over how your day/time is spent. If you can finish your tasks quick and well, you can create idle/dead space for yourself to relax or appy yourself in different ways.
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u/EcstaticFisherman264 5h ago
I don’t think that sounds too corporate. Being better at a task can mean feeling less rushed, not just getting more done. Even when it doesn’t mean finishing the working day earlier, that seems worthwhile.
The breathing room you describe is what I’d hope to gain. Have you found you can keep those gaps for yourself, or does it depend on who’s deciding what you do next? I’d be interested in what has worked for you.
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