Everyday Canvas

Losing Track of Time

Losing track of time can happen either in a negative way or a positive way, I think. The negative one happens when a person is late for appointments and misses deadlines. This may be because of a hectic schedule or time management problems.

The kind when I usually lose track of time is when I'm engrossed in what I am doing. As they say, "Time flies when you're having fun." This mostly happens to me when I am writing or reading. The last time it happened to me was last night. I started reading a novel about 10:30 PM when the house was quiet with the idea of reading for 15 minutes or so, then going to bed, but the next time I looked at the clock on the DVR, it was 12:40.

Some people lose track of time while gardening, talking to someone they love, playing video games etc. With me it is mostly reading, and then, writing. I can also talk to my cousin/best friend for hours and not know where time took off to.

Time perception is a weird thing. Those of us who write regularly, especially fiction, know that we stretch the time of fearful or tension-filled moments for our characters and shorten the others for drama. This is because the experience of time has its roots in our mental reality. We may be constructing or reconstructing an experience in our minds pertaining to time, so we can manipulate the elements we find interesting or troubling.

In addition, when too much stuff happens in our lives, it is as if the tempo of time accelerates. It is like looking through a telescope that shows things larger and closer, thus letting them take more space in the experiencing of them. This may make them feel as if they have taken more time to happen. In short our brain's system of keeping time is flexible, as it takes into account other factors like expectations, emotions, demands etc.

In my case, I think I can never have total control over this extraordinary phenomenon of losing time while I read and write, as it takes me into another dimension, which I feel is the gift of the universe to me.

How to Manage Time

1. Pinpoint when or with what you lose time. Then place those things when you have larger time slots in your day.
2. If you habitually are late for something or other, go over your history and time management patterns.
3. Ask yourself if you are late for everything or just for some things.
4. Are you late by the same amount of time or does it vary? If it's always the same amount of time, that points to a psychological issue.
5. Ask yourself if you like the last minute rush of things as if a journalist loving deadlines. If you are loving it, try to minimize the last minute rush by doing some things you do the last minute a bit earlier.
6. When going for an important appointment or to work don't do the things that will make you lose time.
7. Don't give yourself massive to-do lists, to cause yourself to be overwhelmed. (I am guilty of this.)
8. If you are easily distracted and freeze at the last minute with any one task, try to do your last minute stuff in the same order each time.
9. Put a clock everywhere at your eye level, so you are aware of time, always.
10. If other things are not working, set your clocks 10 to 15 minutes ahead, but don't rely on those extra minutes, either.
11. Try starting earlier so you can get things done and feel less rushed.
12. If you are habitually late to appointments, plan to be there fifteen minutes earlier.
13. If being somewhere ahead of time freaks you out, plan an activity to do while you wait there. (I take my Kindle with me or people watch.)
14. If you are dealing with a friend or family member who is habitually late to things, tell them to be there a half-hour earlier. This will help your management of your own time.

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Prompt: Tell us about a time when you completely lost track of time. Does it happen often or hardly at all?

Remember THE LIST....