November 23, 2023

Elapsed vs Remaining

I wear a divers watch that has a bezel you can use to track elapsed time.

This Thanksgiving when I was frying the turkey, I set it to the exact minute that I lowered the bird into the pot of boiling peanut oil.

After a few minutes of checking, I realized that I didn’t really care how much time had elapsed.

I was much more interested in how much time was remaining because knowing how much time is left makes it easier to decide what to do next.

Here’s the thing...

Everyone knows how much time has elapsed in their lives.

But no one knows how much is remaining.

Imagine how much easier it would be to make better decisions if you did.

(Of course, you can’t know exactly how much time you have left but you can easily guesstimate an approximate range.)

Yours,

—J

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