It’s natural to look for ways to save time.
We optimize. Automate. Outsource. Find faster ways to do things that used to take longer.
Done well, it works. Life gets a little easier. We get a little breathing room.
But then something strange happens.
We fill the time we saved.
The meeting gets canceled, so we use the hour to catch up on email.
We automate a tedious task, then use the time we saved to take on another one.
We become more efficient, so we raise the bar for how much we expect ourselves to accomplish.
We don’t really save time.
We create capacity. And then we fill it.
There’s nothing wrong with wanting to be more efficient. I love efficiency. Saving time can reduce stress, create flexibility, and make life easier.
The problem is what happens next.
We treat every bit of newly created capacity as an invitation to add something else.
Another meeting. Another project. Another obligation. Another goal.
Until the breathing room is gone.
The point of saving time isn't to fit more in.
It's to make room for what you don't have time for now.
So by all means, save the time. Just be sure to spend it before something else does.
Frederick Van Riper
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