How much of our time is spent on autopilot?
Most people can agree that our internal autopilot systems enable us to be efficient and effective. It allows us to do things like listen to a client while trying to find the bug they are describing in the source code. Or make dinner while holding a conversation. Or even have Spiderman-like reflexes when a child falls out of a chair across the room. Our autopilot and established habitual patterns can help us achieve things we wouldn’t otherwise.
However, that autopilot should be an accent, not our main driver. While it offers many benefits, it also comes with drawbacks. For example: not really listening to someone because context shifting takes an exorbitant amount of energy. When we do not listen because we are either in our own heads or we are doing other things, we can damage the relationship with whomever is present. Or another example: driving and talking on the phone (or *gasp* texting). Whenever we split our attention, we might be more efficient but we are often tuning out to the point where we don’t actually file any memories of what is happening.
Why that matters: A few weeks ago a colleague and I were on the phone waiting for another individual to join us. We started talking about how fast the time goes the older you get. Of course two days later I started seeing articles such as, “Why time slows down as you age.” I skimmed a couple and the common thread was that when we are children everything is new. As we get older, our lives become a constant version of, “rinse and repeat.” We do the same things, day in and day out. We make coffee the same way, we get ready for work the same way, we drive the same routes. In other words, we rely on autopilot as a way of life. With the world’s constant demands, we are almost forced to. How else can we do it all, all the time, and not incur downtime?
The sad truth I am learning is that the more time I spend trying to do it all, the less I remember about what I did. The more I try to help solve a friend’s problem, the more I miss out on being actually there for them. The more I try to add to my resume, the less living I actually do. When autopilot is in the front seat, my present, paying attention pilot is in the back completely missing out.
We have the power to slow down time and reduce our “rinsing and repeating.” It may not be as new and exciting as life is for children, but we can still make memories and be more purposeful in our day-to-day. When we choose intention over automatic responses, we increase our autonomy and are able to see the wealth of opportunities that lay before us.
Some questions to help re-instate the intentional pilot and let the autopilot take a back seat:
- What do you remember about your day? Which things stood out? Which things were clearly habitual and not even thought about?
- What are your rinse and repeat routines?
- What kinds of things do you completely lose yourself in and give 100% focus? What makes them so encapsulating?
- What is happening right now? Not in your head – but around you, outside of you.
- When was the last time you took a shower and shut off your brain for a few minutes?
- What are you protecting yourself from that instead should be faced?
- What are you desensitized to? Or, what no longer matters to you that should?