Slow down… or find your own pace?
“Stop multitasking to be more productive,” “Slow down to succeed”—these are the catchy headlines found in magazines, training programs, personal development coaches, andbloggers and YouTubers who offer to teach us how to manage our time better, so we can regain a sense of calm in our daily lives.
Andréa Gourmelen, University of Montpellier and Jeanne Lallement, University of La Rochelle
This article is based on a study published in the journal Research Applications in Marketing*, which reviews and summarizes 25 years of research by marketing scholars on the relationship between time and its influence on consumer behavior.
Admittedly, certain statistics highlight a need for advice on time management: in a survey conducted in early 2018, Harris Interactive reported that 53% of French people said they would like to slow down the pace of their lives. This aspiration is at odds with the fact that 65% of them feel they often lack the time to do everything they would like to in a day. Moreover, this trend toward “slow living” (slowing down the pace of life) and avoiding multitasking (not doing several things at once) seems to stand as a counter-movement to a society where everything is accelerating, as described by the German sociologist and philosopher Hartmut Rosa in 2010 in his book Acceleration: A Social Critique of Time. But should we all slow down?
Know thyself
Just like the praise of speed, the praise of slowness stems from a basic call to action along the lines of: “Everyone should slow down! ” In today’s society, everything is designed to make us move faster (from transportation to internet speeds and, more recently, virtual assistants, etc.). As we become increasingly connected and overwhelmed, we see tasks come one after another in rapid succession, without having time to respond to every demand. So should we all slow down? Can we really afford to?
This call to slow down overlooks a crucial point: the personal nature of our relationship with time. We are not all the same when it comes to the passage of time and how we experience it: some people like to multitask—why stop them? Some people don’t like to plan their activities—why force them to? Some people like to move quickly—why force them to slow down?
Faced with all these conflicting trends—from multitasking, which has been both praised and criticized, to the shift from a fast-paced life to a “slow life”—it’s only natural to feel lost. This is simply because our relationship with time is complex; it’s not only tied to society but also to the individual themselves and the situations they find themselves in. In other words, everyone has their own relationship with time: it’s better to know yourself rather than succumb to trends that don’t suit you (e.g., the “slow life” for someone who likes to be in a hurry, multitasking for someone who likes to do one thing at a time).
Quiz: Are you a polychronic?
How do you relate to the passage of time? Are you more focused on the future or the past? Do you like to multitask? Because each person’s individual relationship with the passage of time influences behavior, researchers in management science have developed scales to measure this individual relationship with time.
So, to figure out whether you should do just one thing at a time or juggle multiple tasks simultaneously, you can simply ask yourself what you prefer—in other words, assess your level of multitasking ability. To do this, it couldn’t be simpler: just indicate how much you agree with each of the following statements on a scale from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree):
- I prefer to work on several projects each day, rather than finishing one and then moving on to the next.
- When I have several tasks, I prefer to switch back and forth between them rather than tackling them one at a time.
- I’m much more engaged in what I’m doing if I can switch between different tasks.
- I prefer to work on several projects rather than focus all my efforts on just one.
- When I have to finish a task, I like to do it by alternating with other tasks
(Adapted from the Multitasking Preference Inventory by Popowski and Oswald (2010))
The higher your score, the more you identify with the statements presented, and therefore the more you are what is known as a polychronic. In other words, you enjoy multitasking. It is part of your core nature, regardless of the circumstances. In this case, it’s in your best interest to adopt a multitasking approach. Conversely, if you mostly disagree with these statements, you should focus on one task at a time, as you are a monochronic.
Our relationship with time is personal but also multifaceted. Examples related to the concepts of slowing down, multitasking, and scheduling activities are currently the ones that raise the most questions in our daily lives. Yet they represent only a part of our individual relationship with time.
A relationship with time that shapes our behavior
In 2018, we sought to provide an overview of the many facets of our relationship with time. Our findings suggest that much of our behavior is shaped by our individual relationship with the passage of time in general, or specifically with the past, present, or future.
For example, volunteering one’s time to others after retirement depends on how one perceives the time one has left to live as one ages. The same applies to purchasing savings products, which necessarily involves looking ahead to the future—to the time when we will pass away and need to pass on our assets. As for the present, enjoying doing two things at once (polychrony), or feeling energized by being in a hurry (or conversely, hating to be rushed) will influence the choice of grocery store format.
Many of the choices we make in our daily lives are often unconsciously dictated by our individual relationship with time—by those “time-related personality traits” we just mentioned. These traits are rooted more or less deeply within us. As a result, certain time-management tendencies may actually conflict with our personality! This explains why we struggle to follow certain advice: you can’t fight nature—it always comes back!
The Effects of Waiting Time
At the same time, the perception of the passage of time also varies depending on the context and the activity in which the individual is engaged. More often than not, it has nothing to do with the actual time that has elapsed. Generally speaking, idle time seems to last longer. Consider, for example, waiting in line at the checkout. Music, colors, and the presentation of information (e.g., estimated wait time) also greatly influence perceived duration. Finally, complex or new activities lead to an overestimation of the time required to complete them.
But even here, it’s hard to generalize about the effects of this waiting time, since it all depends on our individual perception of time. In the checkout line at a supermarket, those who like to plan their tasks may grow impatient, given the delay in their daily to-do list, while polychronics, who are adept at multitasking, may take the opportunity to answer their emails!
So, what should we do? Slow down? Multitask? Speed up? Ultimately, in a modern society that urges us to slow down at all costs, it is likely that the key to satisfaction lies in finding the right balance between our personal time and our behavior.
Andréa Gourmelen, Associate Professor of Management Science (Marketing), University of Montpellier and Jeanne Lallement, Associate Professor of Management Sciences, specializing in marketing, University of La Rochelle
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Readthe original article.