We all know these two types of people. The ‘there is plenty of time to review X or finish Y’ and the ‘We have no time for (the same) reviewing X or finishing Y’. X and Y don’t change. It is not always a question of right and wrong. Not about how much time ‘really’ there is. 2 days? A week? Or whether the time in front is realistic or not.
Many times it is a question of attitude, people who like this term would say. Whilst time is objective, its perception is not. We all have experience this. In good company ‘time flies’. One hour could be either an ephemeral space in your life, or an eternity.
Some form of personal mastery requires the ability to transform the brilliant ephemeral into an eternal experience, and the other way around, to put things in perspective and convert a perceived painful eternity into an ephemeral point in life.
How people use these expressions (‘plenty of time’, ‘lots of time’, ‘no time’, ‘no time left for’) has always been a key pointer to me for my own understanding of the culture of the organization.
‘Journey cultures’ us time in a very different way from ‘destination cultures’. In journey cultures, the time spent travellimn to Ithaca, is as important as reaching Ithaca itself. C.P Cavafy again, [1] one my favourite poets.
Keep Ithaka always in your mind.
Arriving there is what you are destined for.
But do not hurry the journey at all.
Better if it lasts for years,
so you are old by the time you reach the island,
wealthy with all you have gained on the way,
not expecting Ithaka to make you rich.
I call it the Leadership Ithaca test