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Seconds Matter

Accumulation is real... and fast.

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Accumulation

Seconds add up fast, quickly forming minutes, then hours, then more. As usual, xckd has something for this:

Take a few examples with rough approximations:

  1. MacOS doesn't (at least as far as I know) have a native window-snapping functionality, forcing users to resize their windows manually.

    10 seconds/event * 10 event/day * 7 day/week = 12 min/week = 12 hr/year

  2. Internet searches require opening up the browser, going to the website, and typing in the search phrase. Apps like Alfred allow for quick, custom searches to improve time. From the Computers section in Productivity: Technology and Practices:

    Alfred is then 42.5% faster than manual searching. I've used Alfred 1146 times between 03 April 2020 and now (18 August 2020), giving me an approximate total usage time of 1146 search * 3.12 sec/search = 3576 sec = 1.00 hr. Had I kept the manual method, I would have spent 6211 sec = 1.72 hr. Not a huge difference, but it absolutely adds up over many years.

    (Note that this assumes all 1146 uses are internet searches, which they aren't. I regularly use Alfred for file searching, which takes significantly more time because I have to click through many layers of folders, e.g., going to a file in /Users/../knowledge/texts/human_accomplishment/media takes 11.34 sec, while using Alfred takes 2.27 sec. This increases time saving significantly, but was not used to keep the math simple.)

  3. Plenty of time is spent sitting at red lights:
    ... 3,520 minutes, or 58.6 hours, spent waiting at red lights every 365 days. ... you’ll have spent 2,930 hours sitting at stop lights before you even retire. ... that’s 122 days—or about 4 months of your life
    Driving (safely) through a yellow light every few opportunities gives hours of the year back.
  4. From Time Optimization regarding meal prep vs. individual meals:

    Bulk preparation of food for the week, also called meal prep(aration), is a popular way of minimizing cooking. Cooking a decent meal for dinner 6 days out of the week takes 30-45 minutes, for a total of 6 * 0.75 = 4.5 hours per week. Preparing meals in bulk takes longer than an individual meal, but not by much (assuming you have the cooking tools to do so). So, if meal prepping takes 2-3 hours one day out of the week, then the time saved is 1-1.5 hours per week, or 52 * 1.5 = 78 hours per year. Another method to further save time is using a slow cooker. Requiring only 0.5-1 hours of preparation, the cooker can be programmed to turn on to a certain temperature, hold there for a set time, then turn to "Warm" setting after the time completes, allowing you to meal prep while at work.

  5. Professional races, even the long ones, often see competitors finishing within seconds of each other (see 2023 Unbound 200 results, where the top seven finished within eight seconds of each other after a 10-hour race). Cutting a few seconds off here and there can add up to significant time over the course of the race (albeit it makes less of a difference the longer the race). Shaving seconds can also be viewed from an energy perspective: for every unit of energy saved in a race, that energy can later be used to go faster.
  6. Having to search for facts, numbers, quotes, equations, poems, names, and definitions (among others) is time-consuming and inconvenient. Implementing a spaced repetition practice practically cuts search times down to zero, not including the daily study, which is a minimal commitment and easily pays off within a few months (math pending).
  7. Living close to work and hobbies can mean the difference between spending minutes or hours of one's life commuting to said activities. Take Alice and Bob, who live 10 and 30 minutes from work, respectively:

    Alice = 20 min/day * 250 day/yr = 80 hr/year spent commuting

    Bob = 40 min/day * 250 day/yr = 160 hr/year spent commuting

    While the math is obvious, explicitly stating numbers puts things in perspective: Alice gets 80 hours of her life back if she lives 20 minutes closer to work! The same math applies for having to drive places for attractions.
  8. The average TikTok video is 40 seconds in length. Combine that with a finely-tuned algorithm and one easily gets lost in the app, not realizing they just spent a whole heck of a lot of time watching something of no (practical) value.
  9. Constantly typing "Thanks, [name]" at the end of an email takes about two seconds, so in total it takes somewhere around:

    10 email/day * 2 s/email * 250 work day/year = 83 min spent typing signatures per year

    Not filtering useless emails is a similar time suck, both for time spent figuring out if it's important and sifting through the horde of useless emails to find the one:

    30 email/day * (5 s/email (imp?) + 5 s/email (search))) * 250 work day/year = 21 hours looking through emails

And some suggested solutions for each of the above:

  1. Download a window-snapping app; switch operating systems
  2. Download and practice Alfred or similar; practice faster searching
  3. Drive faster (but still safe!) when possible to decrease the likelihood of hitting a red light; drive through late-night red lights when it's obvious no one is around
  4. Prepare meals in advance; pay a service to prepare meals; hire a private chef
  5. Focus on becoming more efficient in practice to save time or energy over the long run; take shortcuts (is that really being more efficient?)
  6. Use spaced repetition
  7. Live closer to people, work, and regular activities
  8. Set app or website limits
  9. Set an auto signature; create rules to filter automated emails to a folder

Take Back What's Been Stolen

The first step of taking time back is awareness. Figure out where time is going and why it's going there. Do not underestimate the cumulative affect of second waste—saying "it only takes a few seconds" trivializes the situation and discourages looking for improvements.

From there, ask how to can be reduced, eliminated, or double-upped on and aggressively look for solutions.

Time accumulation can manifest itself in multiple forms, both individually and concurrently:

Reduction or elimination is simple (and often easier than anticipated) at a task- and environment-level:

Combining these two steps results in a straightforward plan:

  1. Track time spent in as much detail as possible for one week
  2. Determine why each category takes so much time
  3. Brainstorm ways to reduce said time for each category
  4. Repeat as needed

Time is the most valuable commodity. Stop wasting it.

See Also