TLDR: Focus, memory, and expectations can help you manipulate time.
It’s my experience that people worry more about how long their lives will actually be, rather than how long they feel.
You’ve experienced the return trip effect, even if you didn’t have a name for it.
It’s the concept that when you’re traveling somewhere new and back again, that the trip home somehow always seems shorter.
And if that’s true, then why can’t we manipulate our perception of time more intentionally?
This concept comes up more frequently than you might realize.
“A watched pot never boils.”
“The days are long and the years are short.”
“COVID has been such a time warp.”
You get the idea.
It turns out this stems from three things: focus, memory, and expectations.
Focus
When our brains are presented with new experiences, new details, or events that require our focus, time appears to slow down. That is, when you’re intently watching that pot for the first sign that it’s boiling, or traveling down a road you’ve never been on, time seems to slow down both because of how engaged you are, as well as the new information that you’re learning.
Memory
If you’re doing something new, you are quite literally creating new memories. Conversely, when you are on the same commute, or in the same meetings, those redundancies do not form new distinct recollections. That is to say, when you’re telling that story back to yourself or others, when you’re remembering how short or long something was, you’re likely to remember what was new about that experience rather than each passing second of a memory you’ve already formed many times. So while time itself may not actually be shorter or longer, the perception of that time will be.
Expectations
You’re running late for something—why is time moving so slowly? Your plane is delayed, it feels like you’ve been traveling for an eternity. Our brains have a way of paying attention to every moment and being more present when things are not going according to plan or expectation. Being present in those moments, aware of the annoyance or the missed expectations, actually allows us to experience each passing second rather than be asleep at the wheel so-to-speak.
So what?
I think about this concept often. If the perception of time can be manipulated, why not design a life that slows down time? Take a job that requires you to learn something new or be with new people every single day. Practice meditation to be present in each moment. Change up the routine without changing up the habits. Be intentional on what will create focus, enable new memories, and challenge your expectations.
Spend your life driving to the destination, rather than driving home to it.
See you Monday.