By Jean West Rudnicki
This February we receive a 24 hour bonus – one full day added to the calendar. For many of us, though, it is a case of too little, too late.
Our lives are out of control. We rush from home to work and home again, mentally reviewing a growing to-do list, planning tonight’s dinner,
tomorrow’s agenda, next week’s presentation, and grimacing at the sight of endless taillights ahead. Blink, and we suddenly find ourselves
somewhere in the middle of next year.
A Wall Street Journal survey reported that 40% of respondents claimed “lack of time” a greater problem than “lack of money.” So whatever
happened to time? Why isn’t there enough of it? And why do we feel so rushed?
For answers and explanations, I turned to renowned time-use expert Dr. John Robinson, professor of sociology at the University of Maryland.
Robinson has tracked the time-use habits of Americans for more than 40 years. His findings are chronicled in Time for Life: The Surprising Ways
Americans Use Their Time, coauthored with colleague, Geoffrey Godbey, professor emeritus at Penn State.
Don’t expect sympathy from Robinson about overworked, time-starved America. Like the ancient mariner who lay dying of thirst amid
an ocean of water, we Americans, it seems, are starving for time despite having an apparent increasing supply – yes, according to Robinson’s
research we’ve gained nearly an hour per day since he first began tracking it. We don’t need more timesaving devices, according to this time-guru,
we need to master more time savoring techniques.
“You don’t have to do everything you’re doing,” he advises. “You can just begin to say no.”
Robinson’s research, amassed from thousands of meticulous time diaries recording the minute-by-minute activities of individuals for a
24-hour period, represents one of the largest, most consistently collected databases, and one that spans multiple decades.
He began collecting the data 45 years ago. “It seemed that time was a commodity that was becoming more and more important to people and
we had no information about it,” he explains. “The idea was to collect some information about what was happening.” His timing could not
have been better, capturing many of the social upheavals that occurred during the pivotal ’60s, including the mass entry of women into the workforce. Though he continues to see changes over the years, none are
as dramatic as those captured between 1965 and 1975.
So what is going on? Why don’t we have enough time?
Robinson’s research reveals that we Americans consistently overestimate the amount of time we spend working and underestimate
the amount of free time we have available. Free time is defined as time not spent at work, nor caring for family or house, nor spent on personal
activities such as sleeping, grooming, eating, etc. Free time is time we have at our disposal to do with as we choose.
Page 2
|
|
