Something is eating my time

I was sitting across the table from my 10-year-old nephew. He looked at me with a frown, his little face unusually serious.

“Someone’s eating my time,” he said.

I blinked. “Sorry… what was that? Who’s eating what?”

His mother glanced at me, smiling gently, rolling her eyes as if to say, his being dramatic.

Teasing him she said, “Not someone… something is eating your time. It’s all the time you have been spending on your games.”

For a moment, I couldn’t help it—I laughed. And then he started laughing too, his grumpy expression melting away. But as the laughter faded, something about what he said stayed with me.

Something is eating my time.

I am, for one very guilty of that. The day starts and ends very quickly. I feel I didn’t have enough time to focus on the things I needed too nor with the quality I am expected.

Then comes the daunting reflection — the realization of what a PhD truly offers: exploration, freedom and the kind of adventure that both my mind and eyes has long been searching for. It feels like I am floating into a daydream through the readings, wandering into literature far beyond the boundaries of study. I find myself drawn to methods that have little to do with my thesis, even as your supervisor gently reminds me to stay focused. The great illusion of time – “3.5 years is a long way to go”.

But is it? It is in this space that the fear of missing out creeps in — where trying to regulate emotions, feeling like an imposter and trying to learn everything possible competes with clarity and getting things done!

Writing a thesis is no joke! Its takes emotional, mental and physical discipline and focused energy.

Time, much like money and resources, needs strategy.

We carefully decide how to spend money—on expenses, investments and savings. We also allocate some money for rainy days.

Yet with time, we’re far less intentional. The challenge with time is it is not tangible and expontential like money. You can’t hold it or store it in a bank. And because of that, we become vulnerable to let it pass by without noticing. Too often, we spend more time than we invest. That’s why, just as we save money for a rainy day, we need to protect and reserve time too. Time is energy.

Of course, life isn’t always predictable, illness, family responsibilities, and unexpected events demand our time.

And sometimes, things are simply out of our control—traffic, delays, unexpected interruptions. We can plan our days, prepare the night before, wake up early, and try to stay consistent. But then deadlines appear… and everything gets tested.

Do we stick to our routine? Or do we scramble at the last minute?

I’ll be honest—I’ve often been the kind of person who has been working at the peak of deadline. It’s a habit I’m still trying to break. And the hardest part is when I’m tired, stressed, or overwhelmed, even the best plan falls apart.

David Allen on “Getting Things Done” provides a great strategy on how to ‘eat our frogs first’ – not literally. But he said to identity the hardest thing first thing in the morning and get it done.

I tried to discover my own version of how to get things done on a 24-hour cycle, and how different rhythms of attention and time allocation could yield the best return on effort.

Focused, productive work
Necessary daily activities
Learning or personal growth
Family and recreation

In reality, we only have about 12 usable hours each day—assuming 8 hours of sleep. And somehow, the remaining time often disappears… as if something or someone quietly “ate” it.

Life is rarely bound to the percentile we hope to align with. What truly matters is the mindset we bring into each situation and the intention behind our actions. If we are willing to learn, even rivers and streams—with their quiet, steady flow—can teach us profound lessons, if we remain open to them.

At the end of the day, its about getting things done! The process and goals needs to be clear to us first!

My tip is to focus on tangible outputs, even the smallest ones — and to celebrate each of those wins along the way