Freeing Time

For some time now, I have been on a productivity/GTD spree.  For those of you who aren't familiar with all of that, visit these sites: Steve Pavlina, DIY Planner.

For a while now, I have been going about my daily life without a watch.  Just a few months ago, I would have told you that I cannot live without my watch, and it ruled my day.  At that time, I planned everything by the hour and followed that plan closely.  The problem, however came when it was a question of productivity vs. watching time. 

When I had my watch on, I could consistently glance at it to see how much time I had left to perform whatever task I was working on.  I thought that this was productive because I could then gauge my time better and spend it better.  Upon reflection, I now find that to be flawed.  When I wore a watch, I was focused more on the time rather than the task.  Now, that I'm not restricting myself by the time, I can focus more on the task.

I got this idea when looking for ways to help my sleeping.  One idea that I thought was genius is to either hide the clock or not have a clock in your bedroom when you're sleeping.  While you're laying there trying to fall asleep, if you have a clock that you can see, it is going to keep you from sleeping.  Remember waking up in the middle of the night and glancing at your clock and seeing you've still got 4 hours left?  Without a clock there, you don't spend the time and effort to focus your eyes and interpret the numbers and therefore make it harder for you to fall asleep.  This concept led me to eliminate using a clock/watch throughout my day.  I'm not focusing on the time, and am instead focusing on the task.  I carry around my cell phone and use the alarm on it to alert me when I need to do something else.

Give it a try sometime.  Free yourself from the hands that hold you to time.