Monochronic or polychronic?

# Chapter 137

“The high value put upon every minute of time, the idea of hurry-hurry as the most important objective of living, is unquestionably the most dangerous enemy of joy,” Hermann Hesse

This whole idea of squeezing every single second of possibility out of every single moment is a huge trap in life. I don’t know precisely who or what has fostered this mentality, but it becomes a drive that pushes out any remaining value in the proposition, except the productivity itself. This mentality has permeated the whole modern world it seems.

I spend half my time in client conversations encouraging people to slow down, make mental and time space to think, to do less better, and to decide early what “enough” looks like. The whole concept is likely wrapped up in the monochronic view of time, that time is linear (yes some people don’t think it is, just relax) and bounded and limited. So in a monochronic time view, each minute is one lost or used, but unrecoverable regardless. This feeds that inner urgency to “hurry-hurry” and gain something from each one of your limited minutes in life.

Whether time is polychronic or monochronic is not the point of this chapter, nor is it necessary to make a decision about which point you favor, your urgency or lack of it about these minutes of your life, will tell you where you stand. I live in a country in Eastern Europe that is largely polychronic, and time here is elastic and in certain situations absent entirely. No matter what you think about their view of time, you must admire the release of responsibility to maximize each moment of life. Here, you can just be.