– By Dixita Mehta
Do you sometimes wonder why you chose to eat that whole pizza when you had decided not to do so? Why do we fall prey to that scheme of promised virtues (double the money in 10 days), moments of passion (heartbreaks), and future promises when we knew they were all just a mirage? Another question is – Why do we see the ‘mind-mirage’?
Why our dedication level wavers even if we have put ourselves into 100% focus. Some choices we make are like magnetic pulls. Even if we stop ourselves, the decisions seem to be involuntary. If this is the matter than where did the concept of free-will go? Why so? The answer to this mystery is our crucial yet the most unrecognised inbuilt-system in human body: Time Perspective. This Time Paradox influences our decision making process, our health, mind-set, emotions, behaviours, and make us who we really are.
Let us straight way jump to the famous Stanford Marshmallow experiment which was conducted by social psychologist Walter Mischel (1960s) in which a group of young children were given 1 marshmallow and then the invigilator left the room immediately, promising the young child of two marshmallows, provided they don’t eat given 1 marshmallow until the invigilator is back. The decisions were based clearly between future promises and current temptations. The experiment resulted in most of the students eating the marshmallow right away (present-oriented) than waiting for 2 marshmallows (future oriented). But this experiment shed light to many factors- economic variant, social conditioning, environment, trust issues etc. but the most important and crucial finding was that we DO divide our decisions into time zones: past, present and future.
‘Time is of the essence’, ‘time is money’, ‘two most powerful warriors are patience and time’, ‘time waits for none’, but my most favourite is time is the wisest counsellor of all. The paradox of time has been a complex subject to think, talk, discuss and implement. Starting from renowned scientist Einstein (time is relative) to psychologist Phillip Zimbardo (theory of time perspective) have invested their time to explore this enormous field. It was merely concept, a theory which had no practical use until recent years when psychologists thought to implement their research to complexities of life.
Today, the implementation of research on Time have been so extensive that it is used to solve problems which were once thought to be unsolvable – enhancing mental health, promoting sustainability, conserving nature, curing PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder), combating depression and anxiety, ADHD, reducing physical rehabilitation drop-out rate, combatting substance abuse, resolving family conflicts, improving student teacher relations in classroom, and also converting destructive criminal attitudes.
It’s about time we acknowledge our fixation on time, and the way we make decisions based on how we see time or how we divide the time frame.
Let us start by knowing what time perspective is all about: we automatically, sub consciously divide flow of human experience into different time zones. These zones vary from one person to another (social, nation, culture and gender differences taken into consideration): 1. Past oriented (what was, memories) 2. Present oriented (what is, living life in the present) 3. Future oriented (what will be, anticipation).
There is always a tussle between present-focus consisting of impulsive nature and yielding (yes, now!) with future-focus consisting of reflective nature and resisting (no, later!).
As we now know this differentiation, the question is how we can be more aware of the time paradox. Answer will be- by developing a panorama of time (outlook towards time clock within, or Time Perspective TP)
There are 6 Time Perspectives (TP- it sounds like the slang usage ‘time pass’ but it is opposite of it): 1. Past positives (roots, family, identity, experiences) 2. Past negatives 3. Present hedonism (immediate gratification-energy to work, explore self, people situations, opportunities) 4. Present fatalism (life is on auto pilot mode, I have no control) 5. Future life goals (get the wings to fly, destinations and challenges) 6. Future transcendental (spiritual acknowledgement).
One thing to be clear- none of them are wrong or right. They all are important aspects of a human nature but the key is to use them wisely. We need to learn the art of mental flexibility to shift between these time zones (yes, I’m talking about virtual-time travel, how exciting), to adjust the intensity buttons on each TP according to the situation demands. Psychologists have created an Optimal Profile (OP) which is almost accurate – past positive high, future both goals above moderate, present hedonism moderate, past negative low, present fatalism low.
If the intensity button on future is set on high- they sacrifice family time, friends, fun time, indulgences, and hobbies, most importantly sleep (effecting health of body and mind). The key is to try to balance out, adding ingredients which are not on your platter, adjusting the buttons so you can get best usage of time provided (use it wisely, time is money! Now you understand?).
So next time when someone asks you what you doing- don’t say TP (time pass), say I’m adjusting my TP (time perspective). Many of life’s problems, complex non-negotiable situations which seem to be out of control can be solved by understanding and implementing time zones of ourselves and that of others. How will you apply these to your career, disputes, relations, and negotiations? Write to us @
Don’t kill time, don’t waste time, don’t misuse time as Time is (definitely) of the essence! And as per always- time will show what time can do.
