
Living Without Time - iSimone
http://stevecorona.com/living-without-time
======
toddmorey
Another good idea is to cut out every scheduled appointment that you possibly
can. You'll be amazed the difference this makes. People love to put things on
your calendar: things like "lunch a week from Tuesday." But for anyone in the
occupation of creating things, it's hell to end up in a calendared life that's
completely interrupt driven. What if you end up in the middle of some really
good work on Tuesday? Why is it your flow that gets broken and not your
appointments, no matter the priorities? My advice is to challenge these
appointments; make them fight for survival.

For the lunch example, I tell people that I'd love to do it, so please text me
the morning of and I'll let you know if I can make it. That answer is (1) more
realistic, and (2) more flexible.

You can do this for meetings, too. Rather than immediately setting up a "2pm
brainstorming session," tell them that you'll email over your thoughts and
ideas sometime tomorrow.

I really don't understand how scheduling fixed-time appointments became the
natural order. Challenge that assumption and you'll be amazed at how it
impacts life for the better.

~~~
npsimons
_I really don't understand how scheduling fixed-time appointments became the
natural order. Challenge that assumption and you'll be amazed at how it
impacts life for the better._

I'm no historian, but the general gist I got is that with the shift from
bespoke to industrial society came a regimenting of schedule. Could have sworn
I read about this somewhere ("Peopleware"? "Lies my Teacher Told Me"?), and
maybe even caught a synopsis on a book dedicated to the topic, but titles
escape me right now. Might be worth looking into.

~~~
toddmorey
Thanks! I'm sure you are right. Factory work would require a strict shift
schedule.

------
lucian1900
I haven't worn a watch in a long time and I use my phone as a pocket watch.

Somehow, I only notice the time on my phone if I specifically pull it out for
the purpose. I only notice the clock on my laptop when I'm curious about it.

I don't think banishing clocks is necessary: just care less about them.

~~~
brazzy
> I don't think banishing clocks is necessary: just care less about them.

This. But you can't feel all hip and special and write blog posts about that
people call "beautiful".

------
delinka
I had to remove the clock from my Mac's menu bar to keep from watching it
constantly. I've had to train myself to 'forget' (i.e. not worry) about
appointments and deadlines and just let my tools do their jobs (because most
of the time, they do remind me to do things - and if I have more than one to
remind me [calendar on computer, calendar on phone] then I'm pretty well
covered in the event one of them fails at its job.)

My daughter has to be at school at a particular time. She gets off the
afternoon bus at a particular time. Completely living "without time" isn't
possible when you have to synchronize with anything else in the world. Not
having to synchronize would be great, and you can have that kind of
independence - it would take work to get there, but I think it'd be worth it.

------
orjan
The real world problem that time tries to solve is synchronization of events.
By having a standard method of measuring time, we make it easier to interact
with other people and society. While I think it's a great idea to not be a
slave to the clock, it really doesn't help you when you miss a train because
you misread the sun.

~~~
stevencorona
I did (and still use) alarms on my iPhone to remind me before events that I
absolutely cannot miss. I agree with your point but I think you can find a
balance between not missing the train and having a clock chained to your
ankle.

~~~
pud
You mentioned your iPhone clock is set to a random time zone. So one can
assume that when you put events into your iPhone calendar, you must do the
math?

~~~
stevencorona
If you add the event like.. "Take train at 2PM EST" it will do the math for
you

------
keithpeter
Some books

Hugh Brody _Maps and Dreams_ tells of land use mapping with indigenous people
in Canada. They lived without time OK, adjusting activities with the length of
the day, and their movement around their land by the seasons and the game
available.

Barry Lopez _Arctic Dreams_ tells the story, among other things, of the
Government school teachers in a far North village who tried to get the
children into school between 9 and 4 on weekdays during the summer (24 hour
daylight). The children normally went to sleep when they wanted to. The
community reaction was to leave the doors of the cabins unlocked and to
suggest that the teachers could come and get the children if they wanted them
there....

As this is HN, do we think that a _significant number_ of people could adopt
this kind of approach to time given distributed education, home working,
ubiquitous computing &c? Remember that my Granddad (born 1892 in UK) went from
working in the fields by the light of the Sun to punching a clock in a
factory, via the First World War.

------
louhike
This experience is quite interesting. But it would have been better if we had
more context about his life. I can't imagine to live without time at work. My
boss give deadlines I must meet. Sometimes I can't finish everything so I have
to talk with my boss to decide if we renounce some features or we push the
deadline. Everyday, people ask me for schedules: "When are you going to finish
this?", "How long will it take if we want to do that?", etc.

~~~
geedee77
You've fallen into the trap of reading about something that is written by
someone who has no real boss and thinking that you could apply it to yourself.

Living 'without time' is a great idea and is ideal for how we, as humans, have
developed. Unfortunately, in the real world, the rest of us need to use time
to make sure we do things on other peoples schedules. Whether it be the boss,
the airline, the doctor, the kid's school or whatever, we need to make sure
we're aligned.

You will only be able to really do this if none of those things apply to you
and you can spend your days doing whatever you want.

~~~
joelg87
Whilst there is a lot of truth here, as a founder I can say it's still very
easy to "do things on other people's schedules". I think there is still a lot
of discipline required to experiment with something like this, even if Steve
has no "real boss".

~~~
colomon
But is it discipline or ...

Let me put it like this. I have enough problems with being late as it is.
(Mind you, I think probably in the median when it comes to lateness issues
among my friends.) No doubt this is indeed a source of stress in my life.

I fail to see how eliminating clocks from my life could possibly make this
situation better. If appointment reminders plus clocks don't get me there in
time, appointment reminders alone aren't going to do it.

I suppose I could adopt a policy of not caring if I am late, but in general
that seems incredibly rude.

------
macavity23
_Full disclosure: I used the calendar on my phone to notify me before an
appointment._

Living without time... except notifications of impending appointments. That's
a fairly significant exception!

~~~
scott_meade
I agree it is a significant exception. For what other reason would one want to
know the time other than to know that you have a commitment to be somewhere or
to do something? That's the whole point of a shared, synchronized system we
call "time". I think I'll write about "Living without a Car - (Except for When
I Want to Go Somewhere)".

EDIT: Upon further reflection now I think I get it. It's not that Steve is
living without time, but more accurately he's living without _clocks_. There's
a subtle but important difference.

~~~
macavity23
Yes, I like your distinction. It's essentially changing your relationship with
time from being synchronous ('what time is it now?') to asynchronous ('ping!
call your mother').

Which is certainly a significant change, and a welcome one at that.

~~~
stevencorona
I really like this comparison.

------
pud
I used to be slave-to-the-clock until I found work I love doing. Turns out,
when I didn't love my job, I would stare at the clock all day.

Looks at clock. 7:00 I should wake up 7:15 shower 7:45 do random crap at home,
stressing over clock cuz I don't wanna be late 9:00 I should be at work. 9:45
I made it. 11:00, really? okay haven't done shit all day, time to do that
thing. 11:15 really. I REALLY gotta do that thing. It's 12:30 but thing isn't
done. However I should go to lunch. 1:30? Waiter, we've been sitting here for
30 min, our food isn't here, and I gotta get back to work by 2:00. 1:45
staring at clock while eating. If I leave the cafe at 2:00, I'll only be a
little late.

And so on.

I have had jobs like that.

~~~
talmir
I had a horrible job once (Hard job, low pay, horrible bosses) where I spent
the day basically counting time. "Ok, If I drill this hole it takes 15
seconds, so if I drill ten holes thats 150 seconds, or two minutes and 30
seconds closer to when I get to go home." The days were very very slow but
when I got home I swear I merely had to blink and my free time would be up and
it was time to go to bed and live in anxiety about having to repeat it the
next day.

Now I am in my dream job (not much really, I am a software developer in the
aircraft industry) but the day is very different. I feel just as relaxed at
work as I am at home. I dont mind being at work and when I come home its very
much different from before.

I dont think you stress out from looking at the clock too much. I think you
looks at the clock too much because you are stressed and that heightens the
stress levels.

------
keithpeter
"Dropped my watch right into the garbage."

I washed mine by accident, left it in my trouser pocket. Been using the phone
since.

"I learned how to read the sun"

My granddad did that, and the stars when visible. Maritime upbringing.

As a teacher, I need to be in the right room at the right time and it is my
responsibility to manage the lesson so it finishes on time. There are other
ways of organising education of course...

<http://www.steinerwaldorf.org.uk/upperschool.html>

...but I don't think society at large is ready for those yet.

------
ftwinnovations
> I don’t worry about how long things take or even bother considering how long
> they should take

I could not help but laugh at this comment, coming from the "writer" of
<http://www.scalingphpbook.com/>. With no significant updates or
communications in months, despite promises made to the many Beta access
customers, this comment made me literally laugh out loud.

Yeah Steve, we can tell.

~~~
stevencorona
Not true! I respond to emails almost immediately, sent out an email two
mondays ago, and have updated the GitHub repository every single day for the
last 10 days. If you have beef with me, email me, but don't slander me. And,
if you're unhappy, email me for a refund. Jeez.

BTW- I just checked my email to make sure I didn't miss something from you. I
personally emailed you when you bought my book, thanking you. You never
contacted me. Why would you air your dirty laundry here first?

~~~
ftwinnovations
I'm definitely not here to slander, especially since I really enjoyed the
parts of the book you have completed thus far, and will recommend it to
everyone scaling PHP once it's complete. You obviously know what you are
talking about, and your writing is clear and concise. But come on, between
that quote and the delays...

And to defend myself, I just checked, and have no emails from you since June
8th (yes that was a personal one from you which was appreciated), including in
Spam. The only emails I've seen are from upset people asking what the deal is,
via github comments. Perhaps there is some problem with the emailing system?
Is there some other newsletter link I missed?

And again just to reiterate, the content of the book so far is great, and I
_will_ recommend it, however I know I am not the only upset customer.

~~~
stevencorona
I'll send you an email and we can figure it out - I email pretty regularly. I
wonder if you have an older copy of the book, too.

------
scott_meade
Though interesting, the article should more accurately be titled "Living
Without Clocks". Mr. Corona still uses time to synchronize activities with
others but does not use a clock.

For me, a clock is invaluable. I'd much rather simply look at the clock than
have reminders pinging off of events which occur at the same time daily. But I
can see how one wouldn't really know which works better for them until trying
each way.

------
anonymouz
The author replaced his watch with the sun (a coarser way to estimate time),
and used his smartphone's calendar to alert him in time for events.

While its probably a good thing to minimize staring at the clock, possibly
stressing yourself, it seems more like "living without constantly watching the
time" instead of "living without time", which would be substantially harder
(and IMHO, of doubtful benefit)

------
tedmiston
I appreciate the zen-like philosophical nugget.

For a more micro attempt at achieving something similar, I've recently
experimented with leaving my phone at home during the day for 3-4 hour periods
at a time when I go to school. A few things happen:

\- I feel more calm and focused without the anxiety of another device to
constantly check --> I'm better able to focus in lectures

\- I surprisingly frequently pat my pocket when walking on my 20-minute
commute to see if my phone's there. I notice many people outside staring into
their iPhones and Android devices like zombies.

\- When I return, any calls, text messages, reminders, emails, and
notifications found do not really seem all that important nor urgent. Having
the ability to avoid such distractions feels like positive steps in reducing
impulsive behavior.

------
hedberg
Nice post. I don't wear a wristwatch and aren't too obsessed with time but
it's interesting how small things do matter. Like the clock in the menu bar -
after removing it I realize I've been looking at it quite a lot without
thinking about it and without doubt adding a bit of stressful thoughts.

------
jimfl
Earlier this year, I removed the clock from my toolbar. If I need to know the
time, I can hit my iPad, or do a 'date' command in a terminal window. If I
know that I have an impending appointment, I will run a clock app on the iPad.

I don't have a cell phone, and after I put my pocket watch through the
laundry, I don't carry a watch either.

Unfortunately, as a software developer, pretty much every day is perforated
with meetings, and as a bus commuter, I am locked to various schedules, so I
can't quite go timeless.

------
raphinou
Actually, he does not live without time, as he looks at the sun to know the
time of the day and know if he's done working for the day. He might live
without a clock, but then I think the clock is a human technology that has to
be mastered, like a lot of other technologies like mobile phone, email,...
Don't be the slave of these technologies. Master them so you don't have to
ignore them.

------
alid
This is such a beautiful concept - in this over-scheduled world we're not
giving ourselves as much space to foster creativity and reflect.

------
it
The last sentence makes it clear that he is not living without time; he's
living with time defined by organic rhythms of his body and the environment
instead of time defined by the rhythms of machines. It sounds like something I
would like to try.

------
josscrowcroft
Beautiful. Trying this starting today!

Easing into it, though, just removing the clock on my laptop... still have
flights to catch etc.

------
sneak
I did this years ago. Works wonders. Watches are for suckers.

~~~
robotmay
I quite like my watch, so instead I just don't worry about the time. I find it
easy enough to know what the time is and just ignore it anyway :)

~~~
sneak
Why waste your life knowing something you are going to ignore? This is the
most poisonous kind of doublethink.

~~~
robotmay
I know quite a lot of things which I ignore on a regular basis, such as the
knowledge that I suck at playing the ukulele; but I ignore that knowledge and
abuse that instrument daily.

