Time. I'm obsessed with it. I'm obsessed with my usage of it. I'm obsessed with trying to make more of it!
The last obsession, for any normal and well adjusted person, would seem like an undertaking in futility. You can't make more time...you either have it or you don't!
I recently had the following conversation with one of my NYC mentor figure, Lucy.
Lucy: I'm so glad we got together. I know how busy you are - we both are. With the constant demands vying for the limited resource of time, it's amazing how much time can go by without connecting...something that once used to be a no-brainer.
Me: That's why I keep trying to see if I can create more time...
Lucy: (laughing) Let me know when you succeed with that!
Me: Well, what if I told you I've figured out how to have a 48-hour day!!!
What???
It is important to back up here for a second - back to my college days. I was determined to break the stereotype of the "architecture student" one that constituted not having a life outside of studio. So I went a little overboard...I was an Resident Assistant, a Teaching Assistant, went to home football games and became that "dancing guy" on the jumbo Tron, I participated in multiple intramural sports as a substitute for not being on the tennis team (which I had a chance to be on), I also made the dean's list all but one semester...something had to give! Sleep!!! My sleep time, which I loved, kept getting eaten into. I was always tired, when I wasn't physically active...and can't say this was a thrilling sensation. [also wasn't thrilling for my residents who often had to endure my alarm going off for hours without me hearing it.]
Then one morning, after waking up from 4hrs of sleep and finding myself in studio at about 4am, I had my first major epiphany about time. It occurred to me that if I made sleeping 4hrs my new "normal", I would be gaining an average of 4hrs a night (assuming the 8hr sleep recommendation) and 28 hours over the course of a week...a day plus 4hours that would otherwise have been "slept-away"! I was jolted awake as I realized that I'd stumbled on the possibility of an 8-day week...effectively more time to do more!!! I rationalized that gaining 28hrs was more important than the sleep lost...I'd just have to figure out ways to manage the occasional fatigue!
Fast forward to 2014 and I still sleep 4hrs a night on average. This year also constituted my "1-hour-of-painting" daily routine. The time of the day didn't matter as long as I got that hour in. Soon enough though, a pattern emerged. Because of long hours at the office, plus my daily sporting activity afterwards, I would often make it home just before 11pm to put in my 1hr of painting. I would then proceed to have dinner (yes, dinner after midnight), and because I knew I needed to allow for the meal to digest before going to bed, I would use this digestion time to put in that day's hour of painting. Pretty soon my sense of time got slightly warped, as I would have this feeling that a long time had passed between painting sessions...even though my fastidious records indicated I hadn't missed any days. That's when it hit me - it is possible to have more than 24hrs in a day...in fact a 48hour day is possible!!!
If you put in a hr of painting (writing, knitting, whatever) at 1:00am on a Monday, and wait till 11:00pm on Tuesday to put in another hour of work...only a day has gone by between sessions. However, 46 hours have expired in that span of time!!!
The mind shift is mind blowing...and you can bet that I've spent the time since looking at combinations and permutations to maximize this new "48hr day" understanding :).
To end on a slightly different tangent, but one that may shed light to this peculiar way of thinking, here's a fascinating clip based on "Sum" from David Eagleman's Tales of the Afterlife:
- Ayo Yusuf
