Two Paradigms of Time

Performance and Well-Being Depend on
the Paradigm of Time

By Stephen Randall, Ph.D.

This article originally appeared in the The Networker and The ASTD Reporter in August, 1997.

Conventional Time Management (CTM) cannot resolve our problems with time. It cannot deliver what it promises because of limits built into the linear time paradigm (LT) that usually underlies CTM.

Linear time  says that the flow of time is an objective fact of life, built into reality itself. So time pressures as well as the feeling that what we can accomplish in a given period of time is limited are quite 'realistic', something we can at best adapt to.

Stephen Covey suggests an 'alternative paradigm' based on the importance  of what we do, rather than the urgency of tasks. (First Things First,  p. 13) However, Covey's purportedly new generation of time management is not qualitatively different because tasks are still presumed to occur within an objective flow of time.

The inner time paradigm (IT) is qualitatively different, and says that the flow of time is not objective and external. Scientists have not discovered any flow of time in nature. This flow is a product of our conditioning, and is under our control. In fact, the flow reflects the degree to which we have separated ourselves from the task at hand.

What is the relevance of all this for the business world? Covey says (and I agree with him here), "The way we see (our paradigm) leads to what we do. . . and what we do leads to the results we get in our lives." (p. 28) Clearly, the levels of productivity, health, and well-being you can expect under the LT paradigm are lower than under the IT model. In fact, my research has shown that peak performance is possible only with the IT model. We can actually use this flow as a means of self-actualizing, continuous improvement in the workplace, and challenge ourselves to transform all forms of time flow into timeless peak performance.

Copyright © 1997 Stephen Randall, Ph.D.

 

Here is a longer version of the above article:

Have you learned conventional time management (CTM) techniques and practiced them diligently, only to find that you still feel pressured, hurried, and anxious about not having enough time? If so, you're far from being alone! According to Stephen Covey, "Concerns about quality of life are just as likely  to come from someone with a high level of time management training as from someone without it." (p. 31)

Pam Hait and former time management instructor Diana Hunt say, "We still aren't comfortable with time. . . . These [time management] systems don't deliver the promised results. Instead of feeling in control of time, we feel confined by our routine. We search for freedom, but we find frustration." (p. 31) "We think we're buying time, but we're getting structure." (p. 29)

Covey says, "The very fact that . . . the fundamental problem remains . . . is a good indication that the basic paradigms are flawed." (p. 28) If he's right--and I believe he is--what's wrong with the paradigm usually used in conventional time management? What's wrong with this picture that is almost universally used?

 

The Model of Time Presumed by CTM

First of all, what is  the paradigm (or mental model,  to use Senge's term) underlying conventional time management (CTM)? Let's call it linear time. Linear time is a major part of our Western cultural world-view, apparently initiated by Newton some 300 years ago. (Dossey, p. 231) It portrays time as an absolute, flowing physical reality. "Time is like a horizontal conveyor belt that moves from past to present to future at the same unchangeable speed for all of us." (Hall, pp. 78-9)

Since time is an external reality, it seems independent of consciousness, beyond our control; we can only adapt to this 'reality'. So it doesn't matter what you think, feel, or do, or how you look at time, time doesn't change as a result. Time pressures as well as the feeling that what we can accomplish in a given period of time is limited are 'facts of life'.

Another aspect of this paradigm, clock time, is a purely conceptual invention used to measure (minutes, months, years) the occurring of physical events (sometimes called physical or evolutionary time) so that we can know best times to plant crops, coordinate our activities, etc. Since it is itself based on physical events, clock time apparently changes only when one is traveling near the speed of light. Our sense of time  is a measure of clock time and the physical events that clock time refers to.

Despite this view of physical and clock time as external and objective, we somehow feel a flow of time within ourselves, and this internal mirroring of the 'real' external flow is considered normal. In fact, we use the phrase 'losing track of time' to indicate a kind of negligence when our internal feeling of time passing (FTP) doesn't 'accurately track' the presumed external flow of time. Our sense of time, the ability to estimate what the current clock time is, seems somehow connected to our FTP, and is often believed to result from an internal biological mechanism that tracks or measures external time flow.

This linear time paradigm largely ignores, or at least considers irrelevant, our feelings of time passing (FTP)--actual experiences of time and timelessness--including time pressure, anxiety, overwhelm, time poverty (the feeling that we don't have enough time), and the common perception of time slowing down or speeding up, attributing the variation to inaccurate tracking of physical time by subjective biological systems. Our FTP is considered irrelevant and even unchangeable largely because it is thought to (ideally, at least) mirror the 'flow of external events'. So we're left with the prospect of--at best--adapting to an uncontrollable, and apparently accelerating objective flow of time that includes--or in some people's opinion--is driven by modern speedy technology.

Perhaps this ignoring of our experience of time gradually wears us down: "Many illnesses--perhaps most--may be caused either wholly or in part by our misperception of time. . . . I am convinced that we can destroy ourselves through the creation of illness by perceiving time in a linear, one-way flow." (Dossey, p. 21)

 

What CTM Does

Based on this paradigm, CTM usually assumes that time is simply some kind of ungraspable external commodity that we all have  and somehow spend. Nothing is done directly with the flow: "Time management usually presumes that the river of time really does flow between past, present, and future, and there's nothing we can do to stop it. . . . We make our to-do lists, prioritize, delegate, look at papers only once, and so on--all while we feel time flowing in the background." (Randall, p. 4-7)

So CTM is used to determine what  we want to do by organizing, prioritizing, scheduling, etc. CTM tries to handle time pressure and anxiety indirectly by dealing with which activities  we will do--nothing is done directly with the flow, which is felt to be an objective reality. Since it presumes linear time, CTM cannot  work directly with time pressure.

"While with these methods you may alleviate some time pressures temporarily, because your state of being is not affected, you never generate any deep or lasting changes in how you view and interact with time. . . . Ultimately you return to your old ways, and with new frustration." (Hunt and Hait, p. 149) Covey also discusses the superficial competencies of CTM: "Time management is essentially a set of competencies. . . . The idea is that if you can develop certain competencies, you'll be able to create quality-of-life results. But personal effectiveness is a function of competence and character. In one way or another, almost all of the literature says, 'Time is life,' but . . . the time management literature essentially truncates what we do  from what we are." (p. 27)

 

The Model of Time Presumed by ITM

Covey suggests an 'alternative paradigm' based on the importance  of what we do, rather than the urgency of tasks, reasoning that "A meaningful life is . . . much more a matter of what you do and why you do it, than how fast you get it done." (p. 12) However, Covey's purportedly new generation of time management is not  qualitatively different: (1) it still focuses on what  tasks we do, and (2) tasks are presumed to occur within an objective flow of time. (p. 13) No matter whether tasks are judged by importance or urgency, and no matter whether determined by means of core principles or not, by keeping the focus on "what you do and why you do it," the underlying paradigm of linear time is left intact.

Is there a qualitatively different paradigm? Yes, an alternative can be drawn from literature and research on peak performance, and from reports by geniuses and mystics. This paradigm might be called the inner time (IT) paradigm.

In this mental model, in accord with scientific research, physical time doesn't flow. Scientists have never discovered anything like a standard flow of time in nature. (Gold, p. 100) Physical and evolutionary events occur, but without an objective flow.

As in the linear time paradigm, clock time is an invention used to measure physical time. Although no physiological organ that measures the occurrence of external events has been discovered, we have a sense of time, and are somehow able to measure or intuit what time it is.

The enormous variety of our FTP, or actual experiences of time and timelessness are not ignored, or considered irrelevant. In fact, they are considered very important experiences to be transformed, because rather than measuring or mirroring some 'external flow', our FTP measures how much we're separate from, or even resisting what we're doing, and is  the aggregate result of resisting past negative experiences. A composite of repressed energy, our experience of time flowing is independent of external physical events and speeds.

In other words, our feeling of speed and time pressure is a product of how much we resisted past experiences, and is not a measure of current external forces or events. Full schedules and modern speedy technology are not the problem.

Finally, all our ordinary experiences of time are viewed as creations of a dynamic process that could be called inner time. Similar to the way a movie projector can project a single unmoving frame, or give the appearance of movement, inner time sets up our experience in all its various forms: sometimes as continuous moment-by-moment action, sometimes as timeless absorption--without a series of moments.

 

What ITM Does

Inner time management (ITM) is a methodology that I started developing in 1985 based on the IT mental model. Rather than CTM's focus on what  we want to do, inner time management (ITM) gives methods to optimize the moment-by-moment way  we relate to, or the extent to which we are involved in, our current activity. By working with the inner time dynamic that creates our experience, including our changing involvement with a task, the flow of time--as distinguished from clock time--is within our control. Time "has enabled us to create the walls and rooms of our existence. In our rush to build, however, we've forgotten that while we have the ability to construct these walls, we also have the power to tear them down." (Hait and Hunt, p. 13)

Hait and Hunt argue that while traditional time management really cannot  resolve problems of time poverty and pressure-not even by using the most clever ways of organizing, prioritizing, and scheduling external clock time-if we develop 'control' of inner time, it is possible to find peace and fulfillment in the midst of our activities.

By finding the peaceful, yet most productive 'zone' at the center of our whirlwind of activities, we can transform our FTP--including overwhelm, time pressure, anxiety about not having enough time, and boredom and purposelessness--and move toward the nonlinear timelessness and absorption of self-actualization. ITM teaches how to approach this 'zone' and increase our involvement in whatever we're doing, moving from (1) holding back from doing something, to (2) resigning ourselves to doing something, to (3) getting into it, to (4) being involved, to (5) being preoccupied, engrossed, or absorbed.

 

Relevance for Business? WYSIWYG!

What is the relevance of all this for the business world? Covey says, "What you see is what you get . . . . The way we see (our paradigm) leads to what we do (our attitudes and behaviors); and what we do leads to the results we get in our lives." (p. 28)

Consider the results you can expect from adopting the two paradigms discussed above: According to the LT model, time pressures and time poverty, the feeling that what we can accomplish in a given period of time is limited, are 'facts of life' that we can only adapt to. LT usually blames an uncontrollable objective flow of time, as well as modern speedy technology. According to the IT model, these troublesome experiences of time measure how much we're separate from what we're doing, are products of our conditioning, and can be completely transformed into invigorating and fulfilling experiences.

Clearly, the levels of productivity, health, and well-being you can expect under the LT paradigm are lower than under the IT model. In fact, my research has shown that peak performance is possible only with the IT model. And others have found a strong correlation between complete involvement--the 'goal' of ITM--and optimal productivity and well-being: "When we . . . are totally absorbed by the activity at hand, we become our most positive and productive selves. . . . Engrossed in the now, we slip effortlessly into a no-boundary place in time and space, a timeless dimension where energy abounds and time is irrelevant." (Hunt and Hait, p. 66)

In addition, although I will not discuss the details here, my research has shown that tracking and diminishing our FTP with the methods of ITM turns out to be a self-actualizing means of continuous improvement that:

Business is quickly realizing the need to change over to the IT paradigm and include ITM methods: "Many corporations are aware that they need to alter how they perceive time and its relationship to personal satisfaction if they mean to remain competitive." (Hunt and Hait, p. 12) "Today . . . shifting rhythm is essential not only to physical and mental well-being, but also to improved productivity. A good many management consultants believe this as much as I do." (Rechtschaffen, p. 150)

Copyright © 1996 by Stephen Randall

References:

The Dance of Life, Edward T. Hall. New York: Doubleday, 1983.

First Things First, Stephen R. Covey. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1994.

"Relativity and Time" by Thomas Gold in The Encyclopedia of Ignorance. Ed. R. Duncan and M. Weston-Smith. New york: Pergamon, 1977.

Results in No Time, Stephen Randall. Oakland: Amber Lotus, forthcoming in 1998.

Space, Time, and Medicine, Larry Dossey, M.D. Boston & London: Shambhala, 1982.

The Tao of Time, Diana Hunt and Pam Hait. New York: Henry Holt, 1990.

Time Shifting, Stephen Rechtschaffen. New York: Doubleday, 1996.

[ Presentations | Consulting Services | The Optimal Work Vision | Endorsements | Readings| Founder | Mailing List | Time Management Guide | Home ]

RESULTS IN NO TIME

send email; phone & fax: 510-303-1035