Taking Advantage of Time

What really is time? We know that time is something that we cannot control. We know that time is never ending, and will keep ticking infinitely. We know that we can properly manage our time to become more efficient. And lastly, although this is the depressing reality, we know that eventually our time will run out. Now that we think about it, time seems to control our lives. It determines when we can and can’t do something. It holds us back from reaching our true potential as human beings. And it keeps us locked up doing things we don’t want to do, but we know we have to. Time puts these restraints on us, but we cannot let it define who we are and how we live our lives. In today’s work environment, time is a huge misconception. It is believed that taking more time at work is the only way to become more successful and efficient. After reading a book called Why Work Sucks and How to Fix It: The Results-Only Revolution by Cali Ressler and Jody Thompson, I can safely say that this misconception is not only absolutely false, but also inhumane. This book has taught me the truth about making the most of my time on earth while also being involved, and effective, in the workforce.

How I discovered this book was actually through another book called How To Do Nothing by Jenny Odell. When Odell talks about Why work sucks and How to Fix It on page 17 of How to Do Nothing, she uses it as an example of what is wrong with people’s mindset today. She likes the author’s intentions and idea of the impractical “be in your chair from nine to five” model. But she doesn’t like when the author states “What can I do today to benefit my family, my company, myself?” She doesn’t like the use of the word company because it is exactly what is wrong with today’s society. Life shouldn’t be about working 24/7, and being constantly connected to your job. Even if we love our job, being constantly productive is just not possible and can be bad for our health. She feels that there are so much more important and meaningful things in our life than working, or in this case, our “company”. This is very interesting to me because throughout this entire book, Why work sucks and How to Fix It, backs up Odell’s argument, that we shouldn’t be working all the time, but just one simple word gave her a whole new meaning or direction of thought.

Although Odell’s raises a good point, I feel like she may have overlooked the overall message of the book. The book actually supports one of Odell’s main arguments, that we should take less time for work and more time to live our life. On page 13 Ressler and Thompson state, “We all labor under a myth: Time + physical presence = results.” Ressler and Thompson actually support Odell’s argument by stating that the idea of putting in so much time to accomplish something, especially at work, is entirely false. Even though Odell disagrees with the word usage of Ressler and Thompson, one thing they can both agree on is that the problem is everyone gives into this myth. Most workers, and even students, end up putting in 40–50 hours of work in a single week. We continue to do this week in and week out as time just passes by without anyone realizing it. This is the issue with today’s working environment. Instead of supporting the idea to become more invested into our own lives, employers are constantly supporting the proposition to spend more of our time miserably, at work, for countless hours in order to achieve success. Why are we so easily giving into this scheme employers manipulate us into believing? Well a lot of people tend to believe that the only way to get a promotion or pay raise is to impress is by just being at work longer. Coming in earlier and leaving later is not how a person should be determined to be a better or more important worker. The quality of the work is what should matter. If I spend five hours on an assignment with only half effort, and two hours on the same assignment fully focused and engaged, the quality of the two hour assignment will be much better. The despairing truth is that the five hour assignment is the one that will be rewarded. Both Odell, Ressler, and Thompson believe that this ideology is wrong and a change is needed now before it gets even worse. The solution to this issue is to stop allowing employers to manipulate us into believing that the only way to be successful in the workforce is by putting in extra time.

Another scenario that we see on page 17 of Why Work Sucks and How to Fix It that actually supports Odell’s argument is the explanation of one of our most recognizable consequences of our misplaced faith in time, Presenteeism. Presenteeism is when you are physically present at your job, but not really doing anything productive. Ressler and Thompson explain Presenteeism through the story of a man named Bob. Bob has mastered the politics of corporate America, and has seen all different types of issues and successes in the business world. He gets into work before everyone else, ends up with the best parking spot, goes to every meeting, eats lunch at his desk, and leaves after everyone else. People would describe Bob as a “workhorse” because he puts in so much time and energy, so he must be doing something productive. Bob does seem like a great worker because he gets into work early and leaves late, but the reality is that Bob isn’t actually doing anything. He is impressing his boss with his physical presence, but is actually just losing valuable time. This passage from the book actually supports Odell’s argument. Odell believes that taking time away from work is very valuable in order to live life to the fullest, but that is exactly what Ressler and Thompson are saying, although it is very indirect, through the story of Bob. They are implying through Bob that we all fall into this idea that the only way we can be successful, happy, or productive in our life is through being at work. Although Odell uses this book against one of her arguments, it actually supports her idea that the problem with today’s society is we believe that being at work is more important than taking time to better ourselves. Instead of valuing how much time we spend at work, we should value the quality of the work completed.

I have actually experienced myself giving into this myth that the only way to be successful is by putting in the time and physical presence. Starting college I was assigned a class called intro to engineering, a class that all engineers entering the University of Delaware are required to take. I really enjoy meeting with my group for the first time and they are a great group of people. We started off working on our projects for about two to three hours on a zoom meeting together on the weekends. We have been receiving great feedback and grades, so we decided to continue this method of how we would get our work done. I am actually a very independent worker and enjoy working on assignments on my own time whenever possible. I began to get my share of the work on my own time instead of while in the zoom meetings. So now I would sit in these zoom meetings doing pretty much nothing, except answer questions or help out when needed, while the group was doing their work. After reading “Why work sucks and How to Fix It”, I realize I have been given into this myth. Instead of enjoying my only free time, the weekends, I was allowing the idea that physical presence and extra time lead to greater success. I allowed myself to believe that if I wasn’t in these zoom meetings that I wasn’t helping, even though I was. After understanding what was happening, I talked to my group about a better solution for getting our work done. We now divide up the work evenly, and complete it on our time and pace, and when we are all available, we will have a 30 minute zoom meeting about what needs to be fixed or if we need to do anything else before we submit. This has opened up extra time on the weekends to do activities I enjoy, and live my current life to the fullest. I keep thinking about the hours upon hours that I have given up to this myth, but am glad I saw it sooner rather than later. Thanks to Why work sucks and How to Fix It I have better ways to manage and make use of my time, so I can enjoy extra time enjoying my life.

Why work sucks and How to Fix It was a fantastic book that I thoroughly enjoyed from beginning to end. It taught me all about work life today and the problems that we have and could run into in the near future. Because I am still in school and learning how to become and independent adult, this book has taught me so much about the huge misconceptions and myths in work life. It has made me realize that I am falling into these categories of people who waste so much time throughout the day and forget to live their life the way they want to. Understanding this earlier on in my life will help me better manage my time in the future instead of giving into the myth that the only way to be productive is at work. I can now live my life to the fullest without worrying about how much time I’m actually in the office. I would highly suggest reading Why work sucks and How to Fix It because it has helped me take advantage of the short time I have, and gave me a better understanding of how important each lasting second on this planet is. Instead of giving in like the average worker, I will fight back against this false methodology that seems to brainwash millions of people in the workforce.

Although I still have a lot of questions of how I can live my life to the fullest, I know one thing is for sure, I only get one life. Only one chance to enjoy all that this beautiful earth has to offer. We spend so much time working we forget to take time for our ONE life. Don’t get me wrong, we all have to work to make money so we are able to live and provide for ourselves and those around us, but we don’t have to work these overwhelming hours we are being told is necessary. We can be just as productive without working and being physically present 24/7, we just need to manage our time properly. We need to remember that everyone can make a stand point on their life, and it doesn’t have to be through their job. It is important to realize this sooner rather than later because countless hours of our lives could be absolutely wasted doing work that in the grand scheme of life doesn’t really matter. We should be focusing on making the most of the time on this planet with our loved ones doing things we enjoy. Not how much work we have and impressing our bosses with our time commitment. We cannot control our amount of time on earth, but we all should take advantage of it. The clock is ticking. How will you spend it?

References:

Thompson, Jody, and Ressler, Cali. Why Work Sucks and How to Fix It — the Results-Only Revolution. Penguin Putnam Inc, 2010.

Odell, Jenny. How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy. Melville House, 2019.