h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Is it just me, or does everybody seem to be far too busy nowadays?

I am currently running a public speaking club and we are really struggling, both in terms of acquiring new members and getting existing members to come to meetings. At yesterday's meeting the turnout was tiny. I keep hearing that people are just too busy - and I am all too familiar with the same situation personally. I've missed a ton of meetings this year myself due to travel commitments.

In today's world we are all meant to become "knowledge workers" - these are people who have more freedom to organise their work to suit them, who need to devote a lot of their time to planning, organising, thinking, managing and co-ordinating - with intermittent periods of travel to different locations around the world. Every day is different, and few things would be classed as routine. Knowledge workers don't even need to come into the office if they don't want to. It would be considered great, except that the downside is stress, lack of time, late hours, early hours, weekend hours, thinking about the job when you are meant to be relaxing and such a degree of specialisation that you can't easily find someone else to do your job. You have to do it yourself otherwise it won't get done. And many of us have to embark on what is known as "lifelong learning" - courses and degrees - further sucking up our available time.

It's not so much a criticism as an observation. Here is a completely new way of working that more and more of us are engaged in, however it would be difficult, on balance, to call it progress, especially when we have to give up so much of what puts the fun into life.

Ok - whinge over. Time to go home. I've got an 8pm conference call later tonight...

Interesting you say this - I was pondering along similar lines the other day. I don't really know where everyone's time has gone. Nearly everything we do takes less time than it would have taken 100 years ago - washing clothes, travelling, cooking, cleaning - we have all sorts of things to make the process easier and quicker.

My father's grandfather was a carter with the shipyards in Belfast. He was still living when I was young, and I remember him telling me how one time he had to take a load to Bangor, and reached the town about 8pm after leaving early that afternoon. Nowadays, with reasonably clear roads you could do it in less than half an hour!

The things needing done will always expand to fill the available time, I think.

less physical labour leads to obesity and insomnia.The phrase"never done a days work in their lives"has never been more true.

I have an extremely full life outside work (away from home 8am to 7pm), with DIY projects, classes, clubs, etc.

The missus and I belong to a drama group and always put in 110%, no matter what else is happening in our lives, whereas there are other members who are always "too busy" to get involved with set-building, costumes, publicity, etc.

It was quite a shock to everyone when we said we would not be involved in the current production, as we were taking on a huge project at home and could not manage both.

It took several weeks for them to realise that someone else would have to change their priorities in order to get the set designed and built as well as learning their lines.

There is a saying "If you want a job done, give it to a busy person" and we seem to be guilty of letting them get away with it.

Yes, it is nice to be praised for a job well done and to be thanked for all the effort you have made, but it sours a little when you find that you have neglected your home, family or friends for the sake of it.

So we have treated our home project as a dramatic production, with a "first night" deadline by which we MUST finish. It's working!

JT

Perhaps that will be good for the rest of them JT - they'll get a bit of a jolt to do a bit more.

I always find it irritating when someone volunteers for something once or twice, and then it's taken for granted that it's their duty. I once lived beside a woman - as young and healthy as I am - whose grass I cut a couple of times when she was away. She never asked, I just did it since I was doing my own anyway. So "Oh, great, thanks a lot" etc when she got back. Then a few weeks later she asked me if I'd make sure to do the edges well "the next time I was doing it".

"Can you give me a ring the next time you go to the toilet?"
"What? Why?"
"So I can come and flush it for you..."