I found it far more helpful than I expected to simply wear a watch that emits a small buzz every hour on the hour. So many times I'd find myself drifting off task, get that little hourly buzz, and think 'oh, this isn't what I was meant to be doing' and get back on task.
That’s a bit tongue in cheek. Then again, I didn’t wear watches before; time alone didn’t seem a good enough reason. But that, combined with other benefits, works for me.
One thing I've found is that one of the things I look at my phone for more often is to see the time. I've taken to wearing an ordinary (analogue) watch and found that helps quite a bit!
I used to not wear a watch, then I started wearing one a year ago and it's such an improvement over using your phone.
The fact that you can instantly see what the time is means that you're always aware of the time. It's improved my timekeepings so much, and I'm rarely late to things any more.
It's really hard to explain but I think an analog clock is far more intuitive than digital.
The odd part is that the recurring timer actually calmed me down. I can't perceive the passage of time, so having a prosthetic that forces me to ground myself periodically in the moment has been a blessing.
I use an Apple Watch, and it's a gentle tap on the wrist that's perceptible to me and basically no one else.
It's all about feeling the flow of life as it happens in different contexts. Working outside all day long and sometimes all night added to the sense. I've done so many different things over the years that I have a feel for just how long it normally takes to accomplish things and then I use the Boredom Factor along with the Time Flies correction to adjust. It can be incredibly accurate with practice. I haven't needed a watch or clock since I was a teenager.
In the first months after starting to wear a watch (smart Apple or any other kind, really), I kept forgetting that it also tells the time. The habit of looking up the time on the phone was so deeply ingrained, if I tried to find out the time while in a bit of autopilot mode, I'd always reach for the phone, instead of looking at the wrist.
I've actually found that not wearing a watch and having to pull my phone from my pocket to check the time has made me more relaxed about time in general, being early/late and being stressed out over other people being early/late.
The great benefit of a watch is that you can check the time quickly without being obvious about it. This is important when you are meeting with clients or involved in any other kind of important or potentially sensitive transaction: pulling out your phone to check the time is rude and disruptive, but you often need to know how much time has elapsed so you can bring the meeting to a close if you need to.
I'm often on a tight schedule and being able to check the time once or twice during a meeting without the client noticing is valuable.
Also, they look nice. And if they make me look older, and therefore more experienced, so much the better!
I recently purchased an Eco that has an atomic clock receiver to self correct every night. Auto charging and auto setting is very helpful. Even the dates are always right.
It's a beautiful thing and I've gotten so used to having perfect time on my wrist that I actually feel strange when I don't have it.
Winding my watch and setting/checking the time is a morning ritual. It also helps me set my own inner clock. Usually I know what time my watch says before I look at it.
Likewise a timer. The motion of the hands gives much better sense of the movement of time than numbers changing on a digital readout, and a screen rendition of hands moving is so clearly an illusion, my subconscious regards it as a fantasy.
Why would I want a digital watch? Just another set of annoying updates and notifications and battery needs charging and system updates and ....
I gave up wrist watches back in the late 90's when carrying a cellphone with automatic carrier time became a new sort of norm. I just wanted to shed accessories and check pockets for one less thing before heading out the door.
Later on, maybe by 2010, I had noticed that as my aversion to blackberry vibrations emerged, and I avoided my work-related cellphone more and more, I got really good at ballparking the time to within a margin of maybe two minutes, give or take.
Basically by now, somehow, I'm able to glance at a known clock with an accurate reading (or with a known offset to the accurate time), catch the time once, and usually remain pretty accurate for the next handful of hours, until I get stuck in a sufficiently distracting situation that demands concentration. Up until that point, I try to guess the time to the minute before looking, then look, and often, I'm right on.
I don't have any special method beyond that though. It's just a gut feeling I've accidentally developed. I think it started when I disabled rings and vibrations for email alerts and I'd (with an amount of dread) try to guestimate how many emails would drop before the next time I checked my phone, and the minutes since my last look.
I think the next level up, beyond this skill is memorizing relevant time zones and major cities in each, but I haven't been pushed into caring about something like that quite yet.
Nice post. I don't wear a wristwatch and aren't too obsessed with time but it's interesting how small things do matter. Like the clock in the menu bar - after removing it I realize I've been looking at it quite a lot without thinking about it and without doubt adding a bit of stressful thoughts.
I recently switched back to a regular watch recently. I needed vibrating alarms (have 3, which seems to be enough) and I like a countdown timer. I already had a Timex Expedition Shock that fit the bill in the basement from several years ago. I dug it out of my extra gear bin expecting to have to order a new battery. Nope. Running like a top. I use buzzkill on my Android phone to make sure I get exactly the notifications I want. Pretty nice set up and I feel much less distracted.
Out of genuine curiosity, what do you use the watch for that you would associate with time savings?
I've been curious about these things, but haven't been sure as to if they're a product in search of a problem for the current implementation and limitations.
I find it much easier to judge how urgent it is to finish given the information that it's 9:54 than by looking at an analog clock. I wore an analog watch from age ~5-20 out of stubbornness and never got to the point where it conveyed useful information to me without actively stopping to think.
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