How Clocks Could Be Harming Your Health, Happiness And Productivity

Chances are you are dealing with some sort of stress in your daily life. Constant time awareness could be a primary contributing factor. Stop looking at the clock and creating hard clock based deadlines and you may find yourself more productive and happier.

Oct. 13, 2014 The Third Metric

The speed of life, it seems, is always increasing. Our to-do lists get longer, our deadlines loom closer, and constant access to digital devices means few idle moments. In the workplace, this time pressure can be particularly acute: a survey conducted last year found that more than eight in 10 Americans are stressed about their jobs, with an unreasonable workload being the top stressor.

But one researcher is arguing that workplace stress brought on by deadlines and time crunches — and the resulting harm done to our health, happiness and productivity — is exacerbated by an unlikely element: clocks.

Running on “clock time,” as opposed to a less time-focused way of managing our lives, fundamentally alters our worldview, according to Anne-Laure Sellier, an associate professor of marketing at HEC Paris business school.