Set a stopwatch not a timer

To be on time you must live in time

“If the government wanted people to drive safely,
they’d mandate a spike in the middle of each steering wheel.”
–Gordon Tullock

A timer is a useful tool. A tripwire to slice an uncultivated field of time into patches of productive gardens. But they have a failing. In the gap between setting a timer and hearing it sound, it's possible to lose your connection with the present moment. This is because a machine lets you abdicate a kind of awareness of time. To maintain deep presence try a stopwatch instead of timer.

When I'm cooking, or drawing, and (especially) writing, I use a stopwatch. There is no alarm to snap me out of my reverie. I must continually glance at an ever-ticking clock, and this Time Awareness keeps me in flow.

This flavor of awareness is the feeling when your connection is in two hours and your airplane is still in the clouds. Or when you're obscenely early for an appointment, and there’s no place to sit. Your awareness of time thickens like mucus in your throat and it bec…