How we use the speed of time's passage in the city as an excuse.
I am one of those people who say "I haven"t got the time.' So is my girlfriend, my boss and my friends. Nobody who works in London seems to have the time. We are so absorbed in our busy lives that this simple sentence has become a reflex, an easy deflection we have all come to accept. "Can you print out four copies of this for me please?" "Sorry I haven"t got the time.' "Do you want to go out for a couple of beers after work?" "Ah I haven"t got the time.' "Do you want to take ten minutes to slow down and appreciate your existence on our quite splendid planet?" "I haven"t got the time.' Even if you are going to do what someone asks of you, you'll probably slip in "I haven"t got the time, but I'll do it anyway,' just so they know how time poor you are. Let me tell you this; it is a lie. It is a Londoners most used fabrication. We have got the time. Whether you work at McDonalds or Goldman Sachs, the Earth orbits the sun at the same speed for everyone. We all have twenty-four hours to our day and not a minute more or less. If it was possible to slow our orbit of the big fiery globe in the sky, there would be some poor souls working twenty-six hour shifts so they can afford to buy the latest retro Nike trainers.
Time management is the key. Sleep an hour less, have a daily plan, prioritize your schedule and you will start finding you can have that dry gin martini with a twist after work. It may start as just fifteen minutes to thrive. Fifteen minutes which are yours, no phone calls, no filing, and no boss asking you to come in early tomorrow. Soon you'll have thirty minutes of fulfillment and before the fat lady sings on your sanity your time is yours. Plan your day and stick to it and once you have mastered the art of time management leave a little time for fun. It happens all too quickly as the years fly by, the hair turns grey, your muscles turn south and the reaper starts hanging around your door.
Make time to enjoy all the precious fifteen minutes you can find, as when you look back one day and put all these fifteen minutes together, that will be your life.
