Even when we think we’re beating it, time always finds a way to catch up with us. And, with the semester coming to a close, adding more hours to a typical day is a fantasy that many probably wish was within their reach.
Losing time might just be a matter of perception, and stress depends on your personality or the culture that you embrace and how either factor works within the concept of time.
Sometimes, it helps to slow down and smell the roses. If a quick breather can work for a chain of coffee shops, it might be worth a try for the average college student, too.
In the very near future, it could take a little longer to get your favorite cup of coffee. According to an article in The Wall Street Journal, Starbucks is launching a program to reduce the number of drinks baristas make at once to two. The new initiative is a response to customer complaints about how mechanical the process for getting a drink in the morning can appear to be. Apparently, some consumers would prefer to trade time for the aesthetic appeal of a beverage hand-crafted at a slower pace and to enjoy the ambience of waiting for coffee. Others are probably hoping to get in and out of the store as quickly as possible. If it’s a balancing act for Starbucks, it’s a balancing act for its consumers, too.
Multitasking isn’t a bad idea, though. Smartphones allow the average user — anywhere from a CEO to a college freshman — to bend time. With an iPhone, you can combine your walk to class with a quick search for something to eat around dinnertime.
The desire to squeeze the most out of each minute seems pretty natural. There are 24 hours in each day, and we all want to get as much done as possible. When it comes to texting or otherwise being distracted while driving, multitasking has become regrettably fatal.
In 2008, almost 5,900 people in this country lost their lives due to collisions involving at least one distracted driver, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s website Distraction.gov. Multitasking plays a factor in distracted driving, but the problem with drivers taking their eyes off the road starts with a time crunch.
Whether we like it or not, all of us are on the clock. It might be the 65 minutes we have to complete an exam, or we might have to log 20 hours per week behind the register. Either way, time is a scarce resource.
Flexibility is a tool that people are starting to use to manage their time.
Businessweek.com ran an article in early 2009 about employees seeking out work-life balance more than ever. But work-life balance is already losing its label as a catchphrase. The article claimed that the majority of employees want flexible schedules, instead of on-site workout facilities. For workers in Generation Y, being able to get time to work in their favor might be the next big thing.
William Penn, the founder of Pennsylvania, once said, “Time is what we want most, but what we use worst.”
How we manage our time speaks to what we want to do and where we think we’re headed. Outrunning the clock might not be an option, but taking the time to pause and enjoy each moment might just be worth a try.
Send your bucket lists to Isaiah at isaiah.mccoy@asu.edu
