Alright, remember when, like a month ago, we were discussing time management and the right approach to time? Well, you probably don’t but worry not! You will find these articles in our ‘related posts’ category.
Just a quick reminder – the previous post was about focusing on the past. The positive and negative outcome of thinking about one’s past was thoroughly discussed back then. But let’s not focus on the past anymore (a little pun, hehe.) Today, we are going to focus on the present.
Thus, let’s explain the approach to time which is called ‘orientation on the present moment’. We shall start from some example taken from the animal world.
See our first post about focusing on the past, and other posts about time management.
[relatedposts]
Focusing on the present.
We can discuss the negative and positive outcome of focusing on the present on the example of two very different animals – a snail and a mayfly. But first, some product placement:
Did you know that snail is the mascot of TimeCamp – the time tracking software that we produce. And a good one too! It is supposed to symbolize the fact that the use of TimeCamp will let you do every activity with more focus but less effort. In result, you will save time and have more of it, eliminate the continuous rush from your life and enjoy the moment, once our software starts doing a big part of your work for you.
Why not try TimeCamp and see for yourself how great time tracking software it is!
We’ve also developed the team collaboration software that combines Slack and Trello features – HeySpace!
Ok, back to the snail. It is SLOW, can’t deny that. Snails need hours to move a few meters. The snail races that are organized in some parts of the world are definitely not the most attractive type of entertainment. Snails are one of the symbols of laziness, people are compared to them if they take too long while performing a certain activity.
Now, the mayfly. This little insect’s lifespan is up to 24 hours. Some of the life for only a few, and they have to find a partner and make sure that the species survive in this short time. Luckily, people do not have to do this, but some of us try to live their lives like “there is no tomorrow”. Carpe Diem is their motto.
But how these two examples can help us understand which approach to the present moment is good?
The negative approach to the present.
A snail is a good example of the apathetic approach to time – where nothing is really important and there is never any hurry to finish the stuff we have to do. You won’t find much enthusiasm in them. Neither they are conscientious, why bother, when everything can be postponed and done later. Such people may suffer from mild to serious depression, and they are often prone to autodestructive behaviors. Everything because they can’t find a purpose in their life, and they are stuck with the feeling of uselessness.
The positive approach to the present.
The example of mayfly presented in the previous paragraphs was there for a reason. Mayflies symbolize those, who always live in the present and think only of the current moment. They like partying, traveling, and come up with loads of ideas and spontaneous behaviors. Sometimes to such an extent, that it becomes irritating to people around them. The most common drawback of such personality is the tendency to addictions – usually, those that result in an adrenaline rush., they also tend to risk too much, which can turn out ok, even great, but if failed, can be very destructive. Also, don’t expect this type of people to be well-organized, they change plans too often.
How can such approach help us with the task and work management?
Well, this is simple in theory but pretty hard to achieve in reality. Obviously, there has to be an equilibrium established between these two very different approaches. The perfect solution would be to adapt the positive attributes from both approaches while getting rid of those negative. Take your time, and try to plan your actions beforehand but once you start working on them, give it your best, release the stored energy into your job. Learn to analyze situations and don’t take unnecessary risks. A parachute jump is a great idea! Investing in the uncertain stock not that much.
Summing Up
Okay, now you should have an idea about the approach to the present moment. Of course, those were only some simple examples and they don’t explain the whole complexity of focusing on the present, but they should be enough to help one realize if he’s more a snail or a mayfly, and take the best of both. Next time we will focus on the “orientation on the future moment”, which will close the first part of this series of articles concerning time management. Oh, and which of these animals are you closer to?