Slow down... or find your rhythm?
"Stop multitasking to be more productive," "Slow down to succeed"—these are the catchy headlines found in magazines, training programs, personal development coaches, andbloggers/YouTubers who offer to teach us how to better manage our time and 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 research published in the journal " Research Applications in Marketing," which lists and summarizes the work of marketing researchers over the past 25 years on the relationship between time and its influence on consumer behavior.
Certainly, some 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 their pace of life. 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 do in a day. This trend toward slow living (slowing down the pace of life) and avoiding multitasking (not doing several things at once) seems to be a response to a society where everything is accelerating, as described by German sociologist and philosopher Hartmut Rosa in his 2010 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 injunction such as: "everyone should slow down"! In today's society, everything is designed to make us go faster (from transportation to Internet speed and, more recently, virtual assistants, etc.). Increasingly connected and in demand, we see tasks coming at us in rapid succession, without having the time to respond to all the requests. So should we all slow down? Can we really afford to?
This call to slow down overlooks one essential point: the individual aspect of our relationship with time. We are not all equal when it comes to the passing of time and how we perceive it: some people like to do several things at once, so why stop them? Some people don't like to plan their activities, so why force them to? Some people like to move quickly, so why force them to slow down?
Faced with all these conflicting trends, from multitasking being praised then criticized, to acceleration then slow living, it seems normal to feel lost. This is simply because our relationship with time is complex, linked not only 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 is better to know yourself than to succumb to trends that do not suit you (e.g., "slow living" for someone who likes to be in a hurry, multitasking for someone who likes to do one thing at a time).
Test: Are you polychronic?
What is your relationship with the passing of time? Are you more oriented toward the future or the past? Do you like to do several things at once? Because each individual's relationship with the passing of time influences behavior, management science researchers have developed scales to measure this individual relationship with time.
So, to find out whether you should do one thing at a time or several tasks at once, you can simply ask yourself what you like to do, which in this case means assessing your degree of polychronicity. To do this, simply indicate your level of agreement with each of the following statements on a scale of 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 like to switch between them rather than doing one at a time.
- I get much more involved in what I'm doing if I can switch between different tasks.
- I prefer to work on several projects rather than focus my efforts on just one.
- When I have to finish a task, I like to do it by alternating with other tasks.
(Test adapted from Popowski and Oswald's Multitasking Preference Inventory (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 person. This means that you enjoy multitasking. It is your true nature, regardless of the circumstances. In this case, it is in your best interest to choose a multitasking approach. Conversely, if you disagree with most of these statements, you should focus on one task at a time, as you are a monochronic person.
Our relationship with time is personal but also multifaceted. Examples relating to the concepts of slowing down, multitasking, and planning activities are currently the ones that raise the most questions in our daily lives. However, they are only part of our individual relationship with time.
A relationship with time that dictates our behavior
In 2018, we sought to conduct a comprehensive review of the many facets of our relationship with time. It emerged that many of our behaviors are dictated 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 once retired would depend on how one perceives the time remaining to live as one ages. The same applies to the purchase of savings products, which necessarily involves projecting into the future, when we will pass away and it will be necessary to pass on our assets. In the present, enjoying doing two things at once (polychrony), or feeling stimulated by being in a hurry (or conversely, hating being in a hurry) will have an impact on the choice of grocery store format.
Many of our daily choices are often unconsciously dictated by our relationship with time, by those "time-related personality traits" we just mentioned. They are ingrained in us to varying degrees. As a result, certain time management tendencies can run counter to our personality! This explains why we find it so difficult to follow certain advice: you can't fight nature!
The effects of waiting time
At the same time, the perception of time passing also varies depending on the context and activity in which the individual finds themselves. More often than not, it has nothing to do with the actual time that has elapsed. Broadly speaking, idle time seems to last longer. Think, for example, of waiting in line at the checkout. Music, colors, and the presentation of information (e.g., estimated waiting time) also greatly influence perceived duration. Finally, complex or new activities lead to an overestimation of the time required to complete them.
But again, it is difficult to generalize the effects of this waiting time, because everything depends on our individual relationship with time. In the checkout line at the supermarket, those who like to plan their tasks may become impatient, given the delay in their daily to-do list, while polychronic people, who are adept at multitasking, may take advantage of the opportunity to answer their emails!
So, what should we do? Slow down? Multitask? Speed up? Ultimately, in a modern society that encourages us to slow down at all costs, it is undoubtedly the balance between our individual time and our behavior that is the source of satisfaction.
Andréa Gourmelen, Senior Lecturer in Management Sciences (Marketing), University of Montpellier and Jeanne Lallement, Senior Lecturer in Management Sciences, specializing in marketing, University of La Rochelle
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Readthe original article.