Time Flies When Having Fun

I had an interesting thing happen to me this week.

I seemingly lost track of time. Enjoying a few Leishman Lagers, post my miserable golf round, with phone tucked into my golf bag out the front of the clubrooms I fell into what only can be described as some sort of time warp.

My mates proved no help by giving me incorrect times when prompted due to a pending commitment with my darling wife.

In essence I lost an hour. The wife didn’t buy the “Time Warp” story as you probably aren’t right now either.

But on reflection it did make me realise how time is such a massive part of our lives.

It is there relentlessly ticking away in the background waiting for nobody.

I read an article recently which gave a confronting statistic about time we have left with loved ones. It basically used simple math to determine how much time you possibly have left with those you cherish most. Below is a rough example.

Let’s say Mum or Dad are 65 and we predict, morbidly, they have 15 years left on the planet.

Then let’s suggest, as an average, you would spend 1 hour per week with them. (It doesn’t seem much but take into account if your parents don’t live nearby and also having genuine proper contact, not just a quick hello when picking the kids up).

Based on the above scenario you would have 780 hours left to spend with your Mum or Dad.

It is awful to think albeit a little sad that time can be looked at like this. Like remaining credit or vouchers that will eventually expire, but it is reality.

The same can be said for the time we have each day. 24 hours. How do we use it productively?

The comedian Jimeoin had some very funny observations on time during one of his stand up gigs.

I vaguely remember him saying something like how time seems different depending on the activity.

1 minute can seem excruciatingly long if on a rowing machine or treadmill at high intensity but can evaporate quickly when sitting talking to a friend.

Then there is the classic term “Quality Time”.

We all know the person who boasts about working 60 hour weeks and the person who always says “I don’t have time”. I often wonder whether these types of people are prioritising their time and therefore providing quality over quantity.

I have flirted with rising everyday at 5am and feel as though when I do that my days are more productive. The wee hours of the morning do seem to go a little slower with little distraction.

Regardless of what time you get up, what you do for a living or how you spend your day, time will remain a constant. In around a month we will gain some time. A full 60 minutes when we wind the clock back to end daylight savings (here in Victoria at least). Maybe that is a good time to start reflecting on how to best spend your time.

At the pub we see a lot of friends and families coming together to spend time. Rarely time is an issue with the exception of some lunches when people need to get back to work or so forth. It is magic to hear, see and feel the vibe of these moments. Some Trip Advisor reviews mistake this wonderful ambience as “noise”.

Ironically a 90th birthday party this week saw much younger patrons move from the same area because of the volume. When 40 odd people need to talk louder because of potential debilitated hearing you can imagine the atmosphere.

As part of a program I am completing I was challenged to spend time with my parents asking them a set of questions. I had no idea what to expect but what came of it was possibly the most important 2 hours of my life. A journey exploring my very own DNA with my 2 creators was some of the best minutes of the 23,126,400 plus I have been alive.

If you have read until now you have probably spent 2-3 minutes of today.

I challenge you to spend the next 5 or 10 working out what quality time you are going to organise moving forward. Be careful if it involves beers at the Golf Club!