The Greenroom

For tens of thousands of years, human beings didn’t have
clocks. They lived, amazingly, by the sun and the moon and seasons and
the needs and rhythms of their bodies.

The clock is a very very recent invention, and even more recent is
our modern society’s slavish adherence to the dictatorship of the
clock.

Only very recently have we been forced to work from 8 to 5, and to
go to school and follow a very rigid class schedule. Only very recently
have we become obsessed with tracking and making use of every minute,
so that we have things to do when we’re waiting for other things
to happen.

Only recently did we begin to lose our humanity, begin to lose the
art of conversation and the art of listening to our bodies, begin to
lose sight of what’s really important and begin to become robots.

I’m as guilty as anyone else, but as I simply my life I begin
to question the culture that surrounds me and wonder why it is that I
feel so pressured to do things so quickly, by a timeline or schedule
set by others, to be so productive when what I really want is to be
happy.

Have you ever felt that way? I know I’m not alone.

I have a solution, and it’s not original I’m sure but it
surely isn’t as common as it should be: break free from the
clock. Get in touch with the rhythms of life, of your body and of
nature. Be more relaxed and reject the notion that time rules us.

The Benefits of Being Free of Clockhood

Now, I’m not saying that we should throw our clocks and
watches away (though I don’t own a watch) … I’m not
saying we should all quit our jobs and go live in the woods. I know
that my reality is different from most people, as I’m my own boss
— but ask yourself, is it possible for you to be your own boss?
And if not, is it possible at least to find a job where you can set
your own schedule? For many people, it is possible. For others, you
won’t be able to live all the tenets of this manifesto, but you
can change smaller things, here and there.

Why should you change things? Because the clock is meaningless
— we follow it without really realizing why. We follow it because
we’ve been raised to believe we should, and because those who
control us (bosses, corporations, schools, etc.) set schedules we must
follow. The clock, then, is a means to control us — and that, in
my book, is as good a reason to break free from it as any.

Beyond issues of freedom, breaking free from the clock is healthier.
It’s healthier to follow your natural sleep rhythms, to eat when
you’re hungry rather than when it’s time to eat, to live a
more relaxed schedule rather than to be stressed out all the time
trying to meet deadlines and follow artificial schedules.

How to Break Free

It’s probably not advisable to try to change your life
drastically, if you are interested in breaking free of the
clock’s tyranny. Change things a little at a time. Below are a
few things I’ve been doing, or that I’m trying to do, that
you might consider. You don’t have to do all of them — pick
one and give it a try, and see if it is useful. The list, of course,
isn’t comprehensive, but I hope it helps you spark some ideas of
your own.

1. Don’t eat on the clock. Why do you think
   we’re taught to eat “three squares a day”? In human
   history, this is a very strange concept. People used to eat when they
   were hungry (or at least, when the food was available), not at
   predetermined times of the day. The answer, of course, is that it is a
   better structure for industrialized corporations — people, in the
   early days of working in factories, had to be broken from their natural
   eating patterns and only given one meal break a day. Too many eating
   breaks means lost profits! So we learned to eat before work, then once
   during work, then after work. Partly as a result of that, we’re
   ravenous during lunch and dinner times, and we overeat. And we eat
   unhealthy stuff because of our ravenous hunger, and we get fat.
   Instead, learn to listen to your body, and eat when you get a little
   hungry. Grazing is a good thing, actually. Eat healthy stuff if you
   can, and don’t eat beyond what it takes to satisfy your
   body’s hunger. Don’t eat if you’re not hungry just
   because it’s time to eat. Learn to trust your body’s hunger
   signals, and you’ll become much healthier.
2. Don’t work on the clock. We work on set
   schedules for the same reason — for corporations to maximize
   profits. But we don’t need to be controlled by corporations. If
   you have the chance to set your own schedule, learn to find the times
   when you have the most energy, and do your important work at these
   times. Learn to follow your passion, and do work that gets you excited,
   and you’ll do a better job. Many companies these days allow
   people to change their schedules and work from anywhere — these
   are the companies you want to work for (unless you can find a way to
   work for yourself). These are the companies of the future, that
   recognize that people aren’t robots and need to be able to work
   whenever they want, as long as they get the work done.
3. Do fewer things. This is a maxim of Zen Habits, of
   course — do the important stuff, not just busywork. Do less, but
   focus on the high-impact stuff. I’m repeating it here because
   it’s an important cornerstone of the clockless method: if you do
   fewer things, you can do them at a more relaxed pace, instead of
   rushing to try to do everything within a set schedule. This rule
   applies not only to your work life, but to your life in general —
   do fewer errands, chores, civic activities, etc. in order to have a
   more relaxed schedule.
4. A more relaxed schedule. Once you’ve learned
   to do fewer things, and to work when your energy is high, you can learn
   to structure your day at a more relaxed pace. Leave lots of space
   between appointments so that you have transition time to get ready, to
   get to where you need to go, to finish up what you were doing, without
   having to rush. Or better yet, avoid making appointments. Know what you
   want to do today, but do them in any order you like and at whatever
   time works best for you.
5. Meditate and/or exercise. These two related
   activities allow you to get more in touch with yourself, you inner
   mind, and with the world around you. If you sit in an office all day,
   when will you get outside to breathe fresh air and see what the sky
   looks like? If you don’t stop doing the million things you do
   every day, when will you be able to close your eyes and listen to what
   is happening within you? While you don’t need to meditate or
   exercise every day, I highly recommend it.
6. Take naps. Naps have been given a bad name (though
   they seem to be making a comeback), mostly because people who take naps
   are seen as lazy. Yet in many countries outside the United States,
   people take regular naps in the afternoons (think siestas) and in my
   opinion, this is a more enlightened way of living. Since working from
   home, I have discovered the power of the nap, and have come to look
   forward to it almost as much as I look forward to exercise. When you
   find yourself getting tired in the middle of the day, listen to your
   body and sleep.
7. Learn to listen to your intuition. We have become
   out of touch with our intuitions. Now, I’m not a new-agey hippy
   type (not that there’s anything wrong with that), but I do
   believe that listening to our bodies and our non-rational minds has a
   lot of value. It is healthier and saner. However, it’s not easy
   to learn — it takes time, and it takes listening. Try it today,
   and see if you can stop resisting your intuition and live more in tune
   with yourself.
8. Take time to talk and connect. How many times have
   you run into a friend or family member, said a quick hello, and then
   moved on because you were in a hurry? When did we lose touch with our
   fellow human beings? I believe that this is a key to our
   dehumanization, to our becoming robots: we no longer connect with other
   people as much as we used to do. We’ve lost the skills necessary
   to have an enjoyable, relaxed conversation. We’ve lost the
   institutions that encourage discussion and debate and thinking and
   participation. Instead, we watch TV and stare at the computer and sit
   in our cubicles and our one-person cars and rarely if ever make human
   contact. This separation disempowers us (if that’s even a word,
   but it should be), and makes us powerless and inhuman. Instead, next
   time you see someone you know (or even if you don’t know them),
   stop, breathe, smile, relax, talk, listen.
9. Spend time on the important things. Another maxim
   of Zen Habits, of course: learn to step back and think about
   what’s important in your life. Learn to spend time doing these
   things instead of the things that have naturally come to fill your
   life. Forget about schedules and clocks and instead focus on
   what’s important. You’ll be glad you did.