The cost of our rushed lives

Many years from now, we will look back at this era and understand the numerous mistakes we made due to our constant need for speed. Consider the incident with Alaska Airlines earlier this year, where a piece of the fuselage fell off while the plane was flying. A few days ago, the National Transportation Safety Board issued a report confirming that the airplane was missing bolts when delivered to Alaska Airlines. “Four bolts that prevent upward movement of the mid exit door plug were missing,” the report states.

This oversight could have been catastrophic, instilling fear and potentially causing long-lasting effects on those onboard. While mistakes happen, ones like missing bolts in an airplane are inexcusable. There are likely processes designed to prevent such errors—assuming those processes are followed diligently, without cutting corners, and with each plane part thoroughly inspected before delivery.

Rushing isn’t inherently bad, provided the task at hand doesn’t require meticulous attention to multiple steps. However, the plethora of distractions and looming deadlines today seem to invite more mistakes than ever before. With a world of distractions constantly at our fingertips, and soon, directly in our line of sight—consider the videos of people navigating streets in Apple’s new spatial computing headset—it takes significant discipline to stay focused.

The pressure to deliver as quickly as possible exacerbates the problem. It appears everyone is racing to launch their content, product, or service first, often at the expense of quality. Why is this the case?

We mirror this urgency in our personal lives, always rushing, always plugged in, constantly trying to complete tasks. I admit my own guilt but have learned to balance it with extended periods of doing nothing, reading, writing, or watching a movie. The goal is to decelerate and appreciate life beyond work and the compulsive need to keep up with social media trends.

In the professional realm, we juggle deadlines and multiple “priorities”—though if you have more than one priority, you essentially have none. True priority should always be singular, stemming from the Latin ‘prior’, meaning first. Deadlines, often arbitrary, are set by us or imposed by others, marking when something is desired to be completed. They are just another way of letting time dictate our actions, rather than us controlling our time.

“I am always late on principle, my principle being that punctuality is the thief of time.” – Oscar Wilde

Consider the personal finance advice of “paying yourself first.” This concept applies to time as well. Phrases like “time is money” suggest we shouldn’t squander time, with some advocating for constant work and multitasking—a folly, as time equates to life itself. Dedicate time to yourself, your loved ones, learning, and simply being.

There’s no better feeling than doing what you want, when and where you want. That’s true happiness.