The Absurdity of Time Management

Sooner or later a moment arrives when so much work has piled up that doing it all in a reasonable time seems unrealistic. And so feelings of hopelessness, depression, and dissatisfaction arise, which to a greater or lesser degree grow into - depression. Which, as you well understand, leads to nothing good. One would also like to note another aspect of this problem (if it is a problem for anyone) - namely, those whose time is planned by others seem to consider it the greatest happiness to be able to plan their own time. But here you have it - whether it is free time or a holiday, where it seems the very moment has arrived to reign over one's own time, it all comes to nothing. Because either complete boredom sets in and the time is simply frittered away, or the yoke of work continues, because it turns out - rotate your to-do list however you like, it does not get any shorter.

Typing the word combination "time management" into Google (where else) yields heaps upon heaps of various courses, lectures, and tutorials. One might even think that the entire world has already mastered this magic art called time management and you are the only one left with donkey ears. If one sets aside shamanic wisdom and magic, tasks can be divided into two categories - urgent and less urgent. Then each of these further - important and unimportant.

While preparing this article, I came across an interesting website - bezbosiem.lv, entirely devoted to the theme of "how to start your own business". There I found the following task classification:

• Quadrant IV - this is essentially time-wasting, for example, aimless internet surfing, games, gossip, soap operas, the tabloid press, and the like. None of this is either urgent or important.

• Quadrant III - here is everything that requires an immediate reaction, for example, personal email correspondence, Skype pop-up messages, various phone calls, and the like. The urgency of these tasks creates an illusion of importance, but in essence none of it is important.

• Quadrant II - this is the quadrant of quality, education, self-development, long-term strategy, and planning. This is also the quadrant of genuine rest (not to be confused with IV), because rest is important, but it is nevertheless not urgent.

• Quadrant I - these are essentially the "firefighting" tasks; they are important and require an immediate reaction. These are all activities connected with meeting work deadlines, solving problems, or dealing with unexpected developments that must be resolved without delay.

As a result the website author recommends acting as follows:

Everything we do in Quadrant IV should be abandoned entirely.
More time and attention should be devoted to Quadrant II.
Wise words, are they not?

And now about the shadow side of "time management". Namely - who will do the tasks that are unimportant?

Observing the daily rhythm of the "great time managers", one is struck by the fact that unimportant tasks are not simply left undone, but are offloaded onto "someone". Someone who, in the best case, feels useful doing this type of work. In the worst case - simply cannot tell the task-delegator where to go. Is it not the very same group who advocates time management that also encourages one to learn to say NO? And what about the cult of the SELF, which in a misunderstood and muddled format has arrived from Western capitalists?

So in the end - who will take the child to nursery, who will cook the food, who will clean the premises and do the other - unimportant and non-urgent tasks? Ah... we earn the big money and can afford butlers, nannies, and servants. One might think that these are not people and self-development is foreign to them. And who else wants to say that a person is inherently good? Recalling, for instance, how Britain in its time renounced the slave trade and the use of slave labour. Well yes - times change. Only now slavery is replaced by the phrase "working for pennies" and domination - by "time management". Filigree!

I recall the stories of an older woman who, you see, in her youth managed to raise four children, obtain higher education, run off to the theatre, and have a grand time partying. And with a sigh she added - and even a husband, as he went to ruin. You see, the poor wretch became an alcoholic. What the esteemed lady forgot was that she had both grandmothers who spared neither their time nor their advice. She also forgot that in Soviet times the student stipend was sufficient to live on reasonably well. She also forgot that afterwards the little job did not break her back, because while the little children were being born or were ill, someone else did the little job in her place.

For an epilogue, something positive :) - That one should plan one's work - there is no argument about that. In order to grasp the volume of what needs to be done and to mobilise one's forces for it. Not to miss anything. One can look back at what has been accomplished and feel pleased, because nothing disappears into nowhere quite like small, everyday tasks. Attention should also be paid to personal characteristics and the daily cycle. For example, doing tasks requiring concentration in the morning, routine tasks in the afternoon, and chatting with friends in the evening.

And there is no need to listen to clever people who foam at the mouth trying to convince you that you can accomplish much more than you thought if you plan your time correctly. Relax - you cannot jump higher than you can jump, and the only way to do twice as much and more is to offload the work onto someone else. Oh, somehow that veered towards the Kabbalah :)