# 147: Time — More Is More
Story behind the Passage
Time has always been an issue for human beings. After all, we know that our life time is limited and that is why all of us, at some point in our life, discover that time really is the most valuable thing. Right now, however, I have the feeling that time is being discussed even more often than usually. Not only do people constantly complain about the fact that the government is too slow in doing whatever it is supposed to do about Covid, they also claim they have considerably less time because of all the duties they have now (homeschooling, extra work because of the economic situation…). So, as someone noticed in a conversation to me yesterday: It seems that technology is not causing people to have more time — which was/is the benefit of automation — but less.
I objected that this always depends on how you use technology. And the most important point obviously is that you have to learn how to use it first. This is where I see that much efficiency goes down the drain. People think one hour of learning with someone or in a tutorial is too much, they do not have time! Instead, they use the old technology or software forever and waste — maaaaany hours of their lifetime which adds up to even more loss of productivity and efficiency in organizations. This is the logic that I actually want to talk more about today because I experienced another example today.
I had a phone call scheduled with someone for a first getting-to-know-each-other call. But it was, of course, on a particular topic, i.e., not just some very vague small talk which you might accidentally have in your free time. Now comes the crucial detail: The call was scheduled for 10 min.! Remember: I am saying this was the first call to get to know each other! Are you sensing what I am going to get at now and why I have chosen this passage today? It appears in Dobelli’s book The Art of Thinking Clearly in the chapter “Less Is More.” But I actually want to oppose this view — at least under certain circumstances, e.g., phone calls and most other 1:1 conversations.
My Learnings
“And yet, selection is the yardstick of progress.” It is fairly obvious how the paradox of choice works and we all know this. In general, I am thinking a lot about the topic in the context of digitalization these days. My theory is that the paradox of choice actually leads to the fact that search costs for information (online) are rising, not falling, as the digital economy would claim it. But I am actually losing track here. What I simply wanted to underline in the first palce is that we indeed live in a world in which “progress,” particularly of the technological kind, happens on a daily basis. So, we are constantly confronted with more of everything and the response of limiting this range of choices is completely natural to counter the choice-making dilemma.
But should that also apply to meeting time?
No!
At least not in my example above.
Of course, setting limits to meetings is a good thing to get results. But now let me get to the problem where less is actually less: When you limit time to a ridiculously short period, you are making sure you spend even more time in more meetings to actually get results. And this is, I am sorry to say it, completely counter-productive and leads to the exact opposite of efficiency and quick implementation. Let me just briefly give you an overview of what usually happens with these meetings:
The meeting usually starts late and lasts slighlty longer than scheduled but still not as long/short as it was supposed to be. Still, your meeting host comes late to his next meeting -> this adds up during the day which is why your meeting already started late… This then leads to the fact that there is little or none quality talking time because the person’s mind is “between” meetings, not in them them. And now let me briefly list which messages a business partner (unconsciously) sends out:
- The person is unprofessional because he/she cannot manage time wisely.
2. The person does not care about being on time.
3. The person is not willing to really get to know the other person.
4. The person is unable to see in the first place that no profound decisions can be made that actually trigger results in the near future.
5. The person does not appreciate time because he/she prefers to spend and schedule several meetings for one thing.
Are you getting me? Yes, this is also how it happened today but I did not get grumpy in any way, neither did I approach the meeting with a negative attitude. I just let it happen and tried to make the best of it. The point is: I just cannot understand why you would do this. Less is definitely less if you stay below a certain minimum duration in a conversation. It is just so counter-intuitive to me why you would not pay attention to this, even and especially as an experienced professional. This is actually something, by the way, that I do not get in startups. They want to be efficient and fast but because they want to be too fast all the time, they make everything slower. Actually, they even risk the entire enterprise because of this. No, I am not exaggerating. Not having any time just because startups means having no time is not smart.
Maybe I am too much of a pedagogue or old-fashioned. But the point is: Scheduling a meeting for 20 minutes and then at least spending 15 minutes in a real conversation that gets you results and clear action items is a lot more efficient than scheduling 10 min., spending 5 in it to then find out that you need another meeting that cannot be scheduled that quickly, so more valuable time flies by and you yourself still are not so sure about the collaboration because you do not know the other person that well yet (how could you, you did not talk to him/her long enough)… does not get you anywhere! What I am saying is this: Please, people, think about time a bit more to then spend a bit more time in conversations to actually get a lot more out of them.
If that is a choice that makes you “feel giddy” because in a long meeting you might be overwhelmed by information, no worries. Just use common sense.
Reflection Questions
1) How much time do you usually allocate for first-time meetings with professional contacts?
2) Which examples can you name from your own professional or private life when the common saying “less is more” does not apply?
3) How do you feel when people devote more time to you than you expected?