THE
POVERTY OF LACK OF TIME
On
a flight from Madrid to New York City sometimes ago, I sat next to a corporate
type gentleman who began pounding away at his computer as soon as it was
permitted after takeoff. I was slowly sinking into a novel about Maqroll by
Alvaro Mutis. Where do you get time to read books?, he asked me, not making any
attempt to hide his contempt, and proudly proclaiming his credentials, “ I have
not read a book in five years!”. He was an accountant on the rise at
PriceWaterHouseCooper in New York City, “I have been in Madrid for five days
for a conference, I didn’t even get to see the city”.
I
looked at him, not returning his look of contempt, and said: I make time, for
my self and my friends, I read because I want to be a good spectator of this
life. And I added, with a little glint of mischief in my eyes, Have you ever
thought of going to a cemetery and lying down? Death will arrive soon enough. I
didn’t wish to insult him by adding he was already dead anyway.
He
didn’t talk to me for the rest of the trip. I am sure we both were happier for
that.
According
to some social scientists, these modern day corporate ladder climbers are very
similar to the poor roadside vegetable sellers in impoverished nations of Asia
or to the American or the British or Australian who lives from pay cheque to
pay cheque who are poor for lack of money.
What my seatmate lacked was Time, a mismanagement of time in quest for
further lack of time.
The
social researchers further go on to define those who “lack of time” into a
category of “scarcity-mindset”, a way of behaving brought on by the lack of
something-whether it is money in the case of the roadside vendor, security in
case of the American worker, calories in case of a person battling with
overweight, friends for those who are lonely or rejected by their families,
time for the corporate types who want to go
quicker up the ladder of financial security. The benefits of such a
mindset are not to the sufferer but to the social forces- PWC in case of the
accountant, the moneylender in case of the vegetable seller in Asia. But this
gives the sufferer a sense of worth of a
minute, an hour, 100 calories, few cents, smiles/hugs/kisses. Just ask a lonely person, an elderly couple
neglected by their children, about the value of love and hugs!
The
danger is further narrowing of the world view of the average person, already
reached by the plethora of holders of MBA and other degrees that begin with M,
where their worlds consist only of things they studied at the university- not
Literature, not Philosophy, not travel, not compassion for the other..all that
which we call Life. Perhaps that is what
prompted me to think that the busy accountant with no time was already dead.
And prompted me to advice: Go buy yourself a plot in the cemetery, and lie
down, Death will arrive soon enough.
Feeling
poor, either because you lack money or feel a sensation of lack of money
because you fear the lack of security, can lower ones IQ. Anxieties about friendless-ness, love/hugs/kisses, lacking or perceived as lacking, can affect
your performance, whether at work or at the dining table.
Does
Loneliness contribute to overweight or Obesity?
Do people who lack “time” also have problems dealing with their weight?
Does
the sense of not having “time” make you neglect your nutrition, you have money
but no time for “Zumba” classes?, leading to overweight, obesity and
pre-diabetes and become a burden on the society and the health care system?
When
I am requested to give career advice to young people, I try to make sure that
they are not headed in the direction of scarcity mindset but a sensation of
Plenty MindSet. Happiness and Money are not necessarily related, over and above
your immediate needs, as my good friend,
the poor but the best Family Physician in South Dakota once said: you can chase
happiness or money, but never both! This
principle is well lived by my good friend, the humble man of Bogor,
Hendra Pranoto.
He
has a thriving business, various branches of which are handled by selected men
in their fifties. He tells them to train younger people to take over their
jobs, so that they will have time. He gives them the security of the job, but
also time to enjoy that security, time to do more exercise, time to travel
together, time to eat together on a regular basis. On an average day of work,
up to three hours, he and his managers spend time together, exercising in the
early morning by the lake, partaking in delicious Indonesian home cooked
breakfasts, in general sharing time together. He deliberately plans his
overseas business trips so that the business dealings are short but he and his
managers get to spend time in the location and enjoy the local culture and
food. Curiously enough, this has freed
him to give plenty of time to his family (so far this year, they have been to
Europe twice, once to the USA, twice to Bali, once to Phuket) but allows him to
spend time with his friends from various countries. In San Francisco, KL,
Brussels, Barcelona, Milan, Copenhagen, Phnom Penh, Bangkok or Singapore.., you
would see him often enjoying the company of his friends.
In
the last six months, I have seen him in Paris, Brussels on two different
occasions, once n Bali, Bogor, Singapore, Amsterdam. It is incredible indeed
and now we are making plans to go to Cuba together.
I
have felt always and have insisted this to my friends and lovers.. The greatest
gift you can give me is TIME, in this I am lucky..in Cuba, in Miami, in South
East Asia..
In
our Plenty Mindset, we also become less selfish, you have time to do
humanitarian projects, simple ones involving one individual near home or groups
of people living far away from your home.
My
good friend MC who lives in KL used to say, You live 12 000 miles away but I
see you more often than some of my friends who live in KL, just ten miles away!
Her devotion to friends and the great gift of time to them, adds a lustre to
the meaning of the world Friendship.
As
I was writing this, I realized birds of a feather flock together. None of my close friends have this Scarcity
Mindset! HP in Bogor, MC in KL, Dr W and Brother J in Miami, my sister friends
DBSG in Yakama, SL among Kikapu, many others in the Indian country like sister
WLS in Standing Rock and who can forget the sage of Sioux city, who always
makes time for me when I appear in Sioux City, Iowa!
I
truly dislike, when someone says, I don’t have time.
Written
on an Air Berlin Flight
12
September 2013, from Dusseldorf to Miami,
Listening
to Arab music , Shoreen and Amr Diab, on the IFE system
The
wine was 2012 Silvaner-Chardonnay, only sansibar, Dreissigacker.
The
seat next to me was empty. In this cabin, not a single person had their
computer or tablet on, looking for that feeling of not having time. The 9 hour
30 minute flight was very enjoyable and went smoothly.
Scarcity:
Why having too little means so much
Sendhill
Mulainathan and Eldar Shafir
Published
2013
