Imagine for a moment that the following is possible: your usual 24-hour-long day has been extended by one additional hour. Free of charge, no need to pay it back and you can spend these extra 60 minutes any way you like. The case is of course plainly theoretical and involves magic (it’s not related to the NASA studies on overdriving natural circadian rhythm in order to e.g. help astronauts in accommodating to a Martian day lasting 24.65 earthly hours…)
Reader’s Digest magazine regularly conducts global surveys among its readers asking them about a single intriguing idea. “What would you do with an extra hour?” was the question in one of such surveys. It turned out that family time was the leader – half of Spanish readers’ responses and similar number of answers from Canada and UK was about spending more time with the dearest people. In India, on the other hand, work was the number one; in Italy and Turkey the majority of polled would spend an extra hour exercising. Most German and Polish readers were interested in having an additional hour of sleep.
What would be your plan for the extra hour? Learning something new? Investing in more sleep in order to squeeze more from the good old-fashioned 24 hours set? Our squad would greatly appreciate additional hour, since there’s always a lot to do about new features in the software we develop (more features means more reasons for celebrating – an extra hour might be quite useful here as well). As for me, there’s a pile of books waiting to be read, some projects that I would like to finish and a few people I would like to spend my extra hour with (I wouldn’t mind two extra hours then). What are your ideas?
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It would be great if this additional hour would be for a single person only. So that the rest of the world could not follow. No traffic jams, no queues in shopping malls, free petrol (who would be able to see you refueling?) and so on. That would be awesome.
I would spend this time investing in some watch business. Just imagine, every man on the planet would need to buy a new watch!
Thank you Przemek for posting this. Time is among those things you cannot see, feel or have. It’s wierd that it still exists in today’s world of consumerism, quasi-popculture, ultrafast production and chicken-wing food.
I was thinking the other day that we’re all like Marlowe’s Faustus. There are so many things out there that it’s absolutely impossible to get them all. You cannot listen to every CD, watch every movie or read every book. It’s sad but our life span would have to be considerably longer for that.
1 hour a day is just 365 hours a year (that’s about 15 additional days). I would spend it for being Doctor Faustus then…