Manage Your Time or Someone Else Will Do It for You

From the moment we’re born, our time isn’t really our own. Parents, schools, and later, employers all have a say in how our days unfold. As kids, we’re on someone else’s schedule. Education systems beat it into us, training us to march to the drum of a clock that someone else controls. By the time we enter the workforce, we’re well-prepared to hand over the reins of our time to another authority.

Most people never break free from this pattern. They move from the structure of school into the rigid framework of corporate life, where time is often wasted on pointless tasks. Think about the endless meetings you’ve sat through—meetings that could have been an email, a quick chat, or even avoided entirely. It’s astonishing how much time we collectively waste on rituals that serve no real purpose.

The office itself is a masterclass in time-wasting. Long commutes eat away at your day. Two hours stuck in traffic might not seem like much, but add that up over a week, a month, a year. Suddenly, you’ve lost hundreds of hours that could have been spent on something meaningful. That’s time you could’ve used to learn a new skill, start a side project, or just have some damn fun. Adventures don’t just happen—they’re made, and you need time to make them.

Complete work-life separation isn’t optimal either. When you rigidly divide work from the rest of your life, you end up competing for time and space with everyone else. The classic example is the gym at 5 p.m. It’s packed, loud, and stressful. Go at noon, though, and it’s a different world. You have space, you have time, and you have freedom. Why not work when you’re most productive, and live when it’s most enjoyable?

If you measure your team’s output by the hours they spend in a chair, you’re doing it wrong. It’s naive and lazy management. Forcing people to be present for a fixed number of hours is a waste, plain and simple. It’s not about the time spent; it’s about what gets done. When you value chair time over actual work, you’re collectively making everyone’s life worse. You’re stealing time from them—their most valuable asset.

The truth is, if you don’t take control of your time, someone else will. And they’ll do it in a way that benefits them, not you. Don’t let that happen. Take the reins, cut out the waste, and reclaim your time. It’s the only way to live a life that’s truly yours.

— Igor