Imperfect Timing
what is the perfect time?
If it is 9:58 am, Do you wait for 10 am to start your work? Do you plan things in groups of 15 minutes such that things can take 15, 30, 60 minutes? Are you waiting for Monday to start something new?
Why do we do so?
Habit #1: Start Timing Perfect
I will do something from 11 am, From Monday or from 1st of September.
Sounds familiar?
We do so because such points of time are a new beginning in their definition. They can be started for a new hour, a new day, a new month, or a new year. This creates an obvious urge to do something new at this time. This time just looks aesthetically pleasing to begin something at 0.
Habit #2: Duration Perfect
I will do this thing for 60 minutes or 1 whole day or for this 1 month
We try to bucket time in easily understandable pieces of time.
We do so because these distributions are easy to plan and easy to understand. It doesn’t need extra effort to get a feel for the duration. We inherently know what 1 hour feels like and can estimate what we can do in that time. Try guessing what 53 minutes feel like. Felt the discomfort?
Let’s get you uncomfortable
Imagine
1. A workout for 6 minutes 47 seconds?
2. A routine for 1 month and 3 days?
3. A meeting for 23 minutes?
Felt the pain of imperfection?
A common solution for the above things that we do
1. We workout for 5 minutes (with 1 min 47 seconds less workout) or for 7 minutes (with 13 seconds of fooling around)
2. We do the thing for only 1 month, celebrate and discontinue
3. We do 30 minutes meeting filled with random chit-chat for 7 minutes to use the time
Basically, we try to make things perfect and easy on the eyes
This leads to under-performance or efficiency
Call to Action
Get comfortable with imperfections and do things at the best of your capacity irrespective of the start timing or the duration.
Let’s start a new routine on a Thursday, let’s take a resolution for the next 43 days, let’s get to work at 9:43, and let’s enjoy for 3 hours 17 minutes.
Let’s get Comfortable with Imperfect Timing
