The ever increasing service demands and complexity in typical business-to-business engagements certainly places time at a premium like never before. The concept of being able to control time by the mere fact that our relationship with time determines our experience presents interesting productivity possibilities and the potential for increased return on effort.

BBC broadcaster and psychology writer Claudia Hammond in her book, Time Warped: Unlocking the Mysteries of Time Perception writes; “we construct the experience of time in our minds, so it follows that we are able to change the elements we find troubling — whether it’s trying to stop the years racing past, or speeding up time when we’re stuck in a queue, trying to live more in the present, or working out how long ago we last saw our old friends. Time can be a friend, but it can also be an enemy. The trick is to harness it, whether at home, at work, or even in social policy, and to work in line with our conception of time. Time perception matters because it is the experience of time that roots us in our mental reality. Time is not only at the heart of the way we organize life, but the way we experience it.”

It is our sub-conscious that manipulates our perception of time based on our context in various circumstances and situations in particularly our working lives.  Hammond suggests, “We know that time has an impact on memory, but it is also memory that creates and shapes our experience of time. Our perception of the past moulds our experience of time in the present to a greater degree than we might realize. It is memory that creates the peculiar, elastic properties of time. It not only gives us the ability to conjure up a past experience at will, but to reflect on those thoughts through autonoetic consciousness — the sense that we have of ourselves as existing across time — allowing us to re-experience a situation mentally and to step outside those memories to consider their accuracy.”

As autonoetic consciousness is important in our formation of our “self” identity, what we have done in the past becomes a part of our “self” and the ability to reflect on this influences our behavior in the now. Our ability to be constantly self-aware (present) and consciously being in action of creating the circumstances we desire, has the potential to govern the quality and concentration of our new experiences. This in stark contrast to our familiar daily routines. Under these conditions, the perceived pace of time is replaced with vivid experiences and time in itself become irrelevant.

As Maria Popova concludes in her brainpickings article on this subject;

“inhabiting life with presence is the only real way to master time.”

via Why Time Slows Down When We’re Afraid, Speeds Up as We Age, and Gets Warped on Vacation | Brain Pickings.