If you are a reader of my Value Adding newsletter you will have seen that I covered at length an article from the January 6, 2017 edition of The Guardian Weekly headed Why time management is the curse of our existence. Written by Oliver Burkeman, it encourages the reader to re-think the value of time management techniques.
In essence Burkeman tells us about a guy called Merlin Mann who first becomes a productivity and time management guru then challenged all he’d earlier espoused when he realised he was missing morning after morning with his three-year old daughter because he was “typing bullshit that I hoped would please my book editor” about how to use time well.
Burkeman reminds us that the economist John Maynard Keynes predicted in the 1930s that within a century, economic growth would mean that we would all be working no more than fifteen hours per week, and so we would need to find ways to use the empty hours this created.
So what happened? We filled our lives up with busy-ness – that’s what happened.
Burkeman ends the Guardian article by asking the meaning of life question of: “What really matters?” Mann worked out that time with his young daughter mattered more to him than being a published author. Burkeman’s question encouraged me to look within and revisit those deep questions of ‘what it’s all about’ for me.
How about you? What’s it’s all about for you in relation to this precious thing we call Life? And if you have trouble answering this question, AnD’s Vision Coaching process might help!
