Greetings
all!
I
recently came across the term “Time Confetti” – and I thought how cute and envisioned something pink and sparkly! Wrong!
Karen Kwong, an executive and leadership coach, aptly describes time confetti as “tiny chunks of time here and there, in the form of minutes and seconds, lost to non-productive multi-tasking,” all in pursuit of feeling more productive. My readers know how I feel about multi-tasking: “I was not created a Swiss Army knife to multitask like this!”
Here is some food for thought: data shows that an average desk worker changes desktop applications every six minutes. What meaningful tasks can you really accomplish in six minutes?
The term 'time confetti' was actually coined by author
Brigid Shulte to describe using free time to do
little bits of seemingly inconsequential tasks.
In her book “Overwhelmed: Work, Love, and Play When No One Has the Time,” Brigid writes, "As work weeks get longer and leisure time shrinks, people are becoming sicker, more distracted, absent, unproductive, and less innovative.”
How true – and sad! - about shrinking leisure time! You might feel you are getting more done, then you use those time pockets to find and do more work, and voila - interruptions now become your new normal.
For example, if you have a free
hour, would you relax guilt-free with a cup of tea and a good book or would you feel the
need to do something productive and clear some of your to-dos?
Time confetti might manifest in:
·
Inability
to relax during break times
·
Always
feeling switched on
·
Constantly
rushing from one thing to the next
·
Decreased
ability to focus
·
Anxiety
when you’re not “busy”
·
Stronger
tendency towards unproductive multitasking
·
Feeling
like you never have enough time
o This is actually known as 'time
poverty' or 'time famine' and was researched by Leslie Perlow in 1999
If you need to feel busy at all times and/or are anxious and dissatisfied when you are not, you might be experiencing time confetti. When you try to do “everything, all at once, all the time,” then you are never in the present here and now, and your brain does not rest.
To fight time confetti, you can be more intentional and honest about your use of time, block
time for uninterrupted work, schedule intentional breaks, protect your leisure
time, and learn to say NO. Do not mistake movement for achievement.
Rest/leisure is not a luxury, it is a necessity.
We should not feel that we need to be productive 24/7.
Now – how about that cup of tea and a book?
Sources:
