Time is an Illusion; Slow Down and You’ll Still Arrive

"Time isn't moving, you're the one who is moving through time" - Mo Gawdat

Sounds trippy, right? Well, science claims our subjective measurement of time is an illusion. Mo goes on to encourage us to adopt the mindset of a passenger on a train moving through all of time. A train that holds the entirety of the Universe(s). In the science community this train and its surrounding “destinations” are referred to as the Space-Time Continuum.

There is only now, but our perception of now changes based on the circumstance. (“Time flies when you're having fun.”) To continue operating within the train analogy, the ride probably goes a lot smoother if you’re enjoying a book rather than nagging the conductor for an update on why you've been stopped at the same station for 20 minutes. 

Within the confines of now, you can move anywhere you'd like within space (Ie travel to another country). However, you can't force the past to reoccur or the future to arrive faster. 

Many people, including myself, attempt to do this with goals. They set a goal and sprint towards it as fast as possible. 

I'm not discouraging a good work ethic, but sprinting at something without diligent rest will likely lead to long-term burnout. 

However, a comforting anecdote can be found in Derek Sivers' story about his cycling routine.

Derek’s average 15-mile time on a bike was 43 minutes when exerting close to 100% effort. He started hating the routine entirely when biking became synonymous with exhaustion. One day he cut his effort in half, allowing himself to enjoy the ride, observe his surroundings, and truly sink into the experience of being active for the sake of being active. 

The assumption was he would experience a 2x increase in time assuming a 50% effort decrease. Instead, it only took 2 extra minutes to complete.  He was exerting all that extra effort for only a 4% increase in overall results. 

We often think that time and, more importantly, effort spent on something will proportionally improve the outcome. Rarely is that the case. 

This ties into another illusion humans fall victim to:  CONTROL. We think we can control our finances, control our careers, control our relationships. You get the point. But to bring this back to the train analogy, when you’re “hustling” you might also be failing to sit back and enjoy the view. Maybe you feel unprepared for an arrival at some future destination you imagine the train is stopping at next. 

This manifests itself as anxiety for a lot of us and removes any pleasure we get from sinking into the experience of whatever we’re doing right now. We’re looking out the window and seeing a major life event/ milestone on the horizon. 

“I’m turning 30 and don’t have a wife and family yet, I have to go on 3-4 dates a week until I find the one.” 

“I’ve been working my ass off at this job for 3 years and don’t have a VP title, I’m giving it one more year of 80-hour weeks so I can get the title I deserve.” 

“My newsletter got a 10% open rate, I’m going to spend all week writing some super meta/ philosophical shit so people think I’m smart and share it with their friends.” 

DISCLAIMER:  Rewards are great (financial, social, professional, etc.) and hard work can bring us a lot of joy when we see it pay off. 

HOWEVER, holding yourself hostage by only allowing yourself to work hard for the sake of a reward that comes after can have damaging consequences. Studies from Stanford have shown that when you focus only on the reward that comes from hard work while engaging in said hard work, you severely lessen your willingness to return to that task the next time it's required. 

Attaching the feeling of friction and effort to an INTERNAL reward system by mentally telling yourself things like… 

“I’m on the right path,” 

“I’m super happy with the progress I’ve made in the last hour,”

 “I’m really enjoying the progress I’m seeing,” 

… will greatly enable you to sink into a project because your brain will release dopamine while engaging in the work rather than waiting for you to tell you to release it when the reward finally comes. Not only does dopamine make you more likely to return to the task again later, but it also makes you more efficient and creative, which will help you achieve that goal you were spending so much time worrying about beforehand.

Your brain is telling you to enjoy the train ride. There will be stops along the way that are rewarding, but the train is moving at a fixed speed that you cannot control. Getting pissed that it’s not going fast enough is, as the science of dopamine shows, counterproductive. 

And if the science isn’t enough to convince you. We all know the train’s final destination. Wouldn’t you be upset if you got there and looked back to realize that you were yelling at the conductor to deliver you faster? 

What I’m Working on

Becoming fluent in Spanish by the end of 2023. 

I took an Uber the other day and the driver knew very little English. She told me she was from the Dominican Republic and I said “Muy bien, cuando….” which translated to “very good, when…?” This obviously makes no sense, but what I was trying to ask was “when did you move here?”

She was kind enough to fill in the blanks and told me she moved this year. In English. 

I took about 7 years of Spanish between high school and college, yet I have the vernacular of an 18-month-old baby from Spain. That’s frustrating. 

Outside of my bruised ego, There are tangible benefits to being bilingual:

1. It can help you in your career (38.3 million Americans speak Spanish as a primary language at home)

2. It can improve your memory and brain functions;

3. It can help increase your understanding of the languages you already speak.

The more you use your brain to learn new skills, the more your brain’s functions work. Learning a new language pushes your brain to get familiar with new grammar and vocabulary rules. It allows you to train your memory to remember new words, make connections between them, and use them in contextual situations.

I’m using Pimsleur to learn a new language after hating my experience with Duolingo and Babbel. Pimsleur is as close as you can get to having a conversation in a different language without paying someone or physically going to another location. You listen and repeat back Spanish phrases within the context of a conversation. It’s less about word memorization (a typical approach to education) and more about building blocks to speaking.

That's it for me this week. Enjoy the ride!Matt

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