Time Bulimia

Time is of the essence. This is a legal term that is invoked in certain types of transactions. Generally the term means that there is a limited amount of time left to complete the transaction. This term is used to create a sense of urgency and to force someone to take action. I can only assume that those using this term do not generally believe that time is important until we reach the end of a transaction. Perhaps this points to one of the most important problems we have with our perceptions about time.

I was reading an article recently that mentioned the fact that most of us have a false perception about available time. In a recent survey college students were asked if they would be willing to make a specific time commitment. They were given a choice of making the commitment on that day or at a date exactly one week later at the same time. The consensus was that making a commitment on that day was not possible. However, when asked if they could make the same commitment exactly one week later at the same time, the general consensus was that yes they could make that time commitment. The researchers conducting this study were pointing out what is common among most people, not just college students. That is that we generally have a misperception about time that causes us to believe that we have less time at the present, but we will always have more time in the future. This misperception usually causes us to make time commitments in the future that we would not make today because we believe that we will have more time then. Of course in
reality when the future date arrives we have no more time than we had at the moment that we made the time commitment. This then results in our having to make adjustments and cancellations in order to make room for our now over committed schedule. The fix of course is to then schedule these events into the future once again when we believe that we will have more time.

This is a bit of an illness which I will for the sake of this article call “Time Bulimia.” I wish I could say that I coined this phrase, but I did not. I first read about the phrase in an article where someone referred to their boss as a time bulimic. This busy executive would “binge” by scheduling their days minute by minute in advance. The calendar would be quickly filled up with future events such that the executive’s schedule would be brimming over. Then, when the day came the executive would review their schedule and “purge” the events with a series of cancellations and rescheduling. I certainly do not want to trivialize the very serious illness of bulimia by comparing it to time management problems, but this comparison seems to me to be very appropriate. I would also argue that this sort of time management is a sickness and has many calamitous effects.

In the corporate world we see daily examples of this illness. We read of or directly witness the “heroics” of those workers that put in eighteen hour days running from project to project, or meeting to meeting. We canonize these workers as “extreme employees” and even often times reward them with more pay or promotions. We idolize those that can work the hardest, put in the most hours, and essentially live highly unbalanced lives. Those that don’t keep such schedules are labeled as lacking ambition, lazy, or uncommitted. I know that I personally have suffered from this disease often times placing too much on my plate binging on commitments only to later purge them with cancellations and rescheduling. We go through this binge and purge cycle until it all finally catches up with us and shows up in the form of fatigue, illness, stress, and broken relationships.

My understanding of bulimia tells me that sufferers generally have an unrealistic view of themselves. They are unable to see their physical features accurately. They look in the mirror and despite facts to the contrary see only a fat person. Their desire to be thin leads them to continuously do things that they believe will help them to achieve the body image they so desperately want. Time bulimics are similar. They have unrealistic perceptions about how much time they have available. They believe that they can always add on one more commitment. These sufferers are almost competitive with their missed sense of time. They brag about what time they get up, how little sleep they need, how long they work, and the “all nighters” they pull so frequently. They eat meals at their desk, multi-task to get more done and employ the latest in “time saving” technology to become even more efficient.

I am sure that you know a time bulimic. The tell tale signs are easy to spot. Look for someone that is always apologetic about missed commitments, or is frequently telling you that they are extremely busy. Another tell tale sign is that most time bulimics tend to look unhealthy. Look for the pale skin, or quickly growing extremities that come from bad meals, lack of sunshine, and failing to exercise regularly. Don’t be fooled by the lack of high tech gear. Not all time bulimics use high tech equipment. Many have the ability to over commit and yet keep their schedules in their heads. It is harder to root out these sufferers since they don’t refer to their calendar or schedule. Rather, these people are usually just missing most of the time. They are constantly running from place to place and event to event. In order to recognize these people you must listen carefully to their conversations. You will hear them use words like “I have to” or making statements that indicate that they have little control or choice over their many obligations. Their badge of honor is the events they attend, the committees they are on, the children’s games they never miss and their dual roles as bread winners and super mom/super dad. These folks are not nearly as obvious since on the surface they appear to be doing all of the right things. However, even for these people it is not that they are doing the wrong things, but rather that they are doing too many things.

We all need to slow down. Time maintains a constant pace. I like the quote by Margaret B Johnstone where she describes time as a “fixed income.” She says that the real problem facing most of us is how to live successfully within our daily allotment.

If my analogy of time bulimia is like similar diseases then those that you know who are suffering from it do not realize the problem they have. You can’t tell them they are sick and most don’t realize it until they suffer disastrous health consequences. Perhaps even you are suffering from this disease. Yet, you can’t see the negative image being created. I can only hope that reading this will cause you to stop just long enough to examine your time and decide whether or not changes might be in order. After all, we are only talking about time, and time is the stuff that life is made of.

You have to allow a certain amount of time in which you are doing nothing in order to have things occur to you, to let your mind think.
--Mortimer Adler.