Is the Almighty Clock Your Real Boss?
or How to End Your War with Time in Your Third Act
I used to think that the concept of an all powerful Boss, ie God, had been replaced by the great arbiters of modern life: Hormones and Time.
All around me, I saw how hormone levels and the number of hours in a day literally drove and shaped everyone’s days. But as a former multi-tasking, stressed out working mom with long hours on the job, a long commute and then long hours managing home life, I mostly vibrated to the belief that Time was all powerful and all controlling.
What surprises me the most about my life right now is my peaceful relationship with Time. It had always been a war. Wringing out every second. Making it count. Time was a commodity; something to possess and use obsessively. Piling up 2, now 14, which became 27, and jumped to 56 which rabidly divided into 719 things to do at this time.
My life was crossing off items on lists diligently. Managing and tightening around the most important, non-negotiable tasks of the day. Constructing an efficiency machine that ran on getting to all my ‘have to’s’. It didn’t matter if that meant I worked 16 hours in a day or was up at 3 am working. I was obligated. I HAD TO. Have to prepare the powerpoint. Have to answer 130 high priority emails. Have to write the report. Have to handle this sensitive work…
