I’ll admit that I find myself consumed by time urgency more often than I’d like to admit.
I get so caught up in a looong to-do list or a packed week that I become overwhelmed by this sense of rushing and hurry. I don’t feel accomplished when I complete things, because I’m more focused on having more things to do.
I spin myself into a cycle of immediacy, building up an anxious energy and feeling guilty if I take breaks or can’t get things done.
It certainly isn’t enjoyable to get caught up in time urgency, also known as hurry sickness. Since I know I am not the only one who experiences this time perspective, I wanted to delve a bit more into what time urgency is and what we can do when it occurs.
What is Time Urgency?
I resonate with the way Michael Ashworth, Ph.D., describes time urgency.
“Individuals who perceive life in a time-urgent way tend to engage in self-defeating behaviors and thoughts such as being excessively worried about schedules, keeping overly tight deadlines, rushing when rushing is not necessary, doing several activities at the same time, and not taking the time to really enjoy work or play.”
A Brief Look at the History of Hurry Sickness
You’ve probably heard the term Type A personality, right?
In the 1950s, two cardiologists, Meyer Freidman and Ray Rosenman,
The fun part of the story, so it’s told, is that Freidman and Rosenman first came to study this because of the chairs in their waiting room.
The seats of the chairs were being worn down, particularly the fronts of the seats. They realized this was happening as patients, sitting in the seats in the waiting room, sat forward in the chairs, stressed and hurried.
Long story short, they began to study the personality traits and lifestyles that correlated with this stressed and hurried behavior, and looked at how that relates to coronary disease.
While the Type A and Type B personality types they developed through their research are sometimes debated for their validity, the larger idea of hurry sickness and time urgency is incredibly relevant.
Consequences of Time Urgency
Here’s the thing, it can be so rewarding to get a lot done. It can feel great to be productive, to feel accomplished, to feel successful in your work. But I don’t believe any of this is truly authentic or sustainable if it is a detriment to your wellbeing.
When we are too focused on the future, or the idea of getting things done, we miss out on our present.
We may actually become less productive and less effective in our work when we are consumed by time urgency.
Think about the work you do when you’re rushing. Is it prone to more errors and poorer quality? Do you remember it more than other work or feel more positively engaged in it?
When we are focused too much on the idea of moving quickly, accomplishing things, and reaching success, we often lose the capacity to connect with our why.
Why are we doing any of this anyway? And couldn’t we be doing it in a way that better maintains our wellbeing? If this constantly makes us stressed or miserable, is it really what we need to be doing or how we need to be doing it?
Three Things I Do To Combat Time Urgency
1. I practice reflective pausing.
If I find myself getting stressed or overwhelmed and feel like I have so, so much to do, I pause. I take a couple minutes to break away from this urgent pace. I take a deep breath and try to brush away the anxious build up of rushing. If I take the time to break this cycle, I am able to break away from it and set myself on a healthier course.
2. I laugh at myself.
I think about the negative self-talk that is fueling my time urgency, the feeling that I’m not getting enough done and failing. I think about the things I’ve been saying to myself and I laugh. How utterly ridiculous that I’d speak to myself in this way. How goofy that I’d take myself way too seriously. This laughter reminds me to be light – I’ll get the work done and I’ll do a good job, but I don’t have to be miserable while doing so.
3. I reach out to someone in my life.
Not for work. Not for the project I’m currently working on. I connect with a friend or family member, just because. I check in with them. I ask how they are doing, and then I really listen to what they tell me. One, connecting with someone I care about gets me out of my head and helps me relax. Two, listening to them talk about how they are and what they’ve been up to gets me out of my head and my self-focused thoughts to break my sense of urgency.
Ready to learn more?
If you’d like to learn more about time urgency and strategies to maintain wellbeing, check out my upcoming workshop: How We Suffer From Time Urgency and What We Can Do About It