LISTEN | What’s your time personality?:The Current13:09What’s your “time personality”?Do you have a friend who is always late?You know, the one who agrees to meet for lunch at noon, but 20 minutes past the scheduled time, you’re still staring down at your phone as they text, “On my way!”It’s easy to take it personally, and you might wonder: Do they not respect my time? Do they even care?But, according to researcher Dawna Ballard, their chronic tardiness might not be a character flaw at all.”I know some of your listeners know people who seem to abuse time,” Ballard told The Current’s host Matt Galloway.”For a lot of people, that’s just not the reason.”What’s your time personality? Being chronically late or obsessively early isn’t always a conscious choice, Ballard said. It often reflects how we experience time, which is shaped by a mix of beliefs, biology and cultural conditioning.Dawna Ballard says that being late or on time isn’t always a conscious choice, as our perceptions of time can differ from person to person (file404 / Shutterstock)It’s referred to as a “time personality,” the natural and often subconscious way of perceiving time and managing it.Just like how some people are naturally more detail-oriented or introverted, some can be more fluid or rigid with time, she said.Ballard is an associate professor of organizational communication and technology at the University of Texas at Austin. In her forthcoming book, Time By Design, she challenges the modern obsession with speed and productivity.Real efficiency, she argues, comes from not just trying to move quickly, but knowing when to use slower and more thoughtful communication to speed up results in the long run. The book introduces two styles of communication — fast and slow — and tools to help people combine both styles for better collaboration and success. Shaped by different factors Ballard breaks time personality down into “12 dimensions” — from how urgent you feel about deadlines, to whether you prefer multitasking or focusing on one thing, or how flexible you are with schedules.For instance, do you live more in the past, present or future? Are you highly structured or more of a go-with-the-flow type?One biological factor she points to is “time blindness,” a condition common in neurodivergent people, such as those with ADHD. It makes tracking the passage of time difficult, often requiring more effort to stay on schedule.”It’s very similar to those of us like myself, who have no sense of direction and can get easily lost,” said Ballard. “It’s just the biology, and there’s not this internal clock in [them] the same way that others have it.”Piers Steel, a professor at the University of Calgary who studies culture, motivation and productivity, agrees that time perception can be hardwired.He says our internal clocks, the focus of chronobiology, divide us roughly into a spectrum across two types: morning larks — who wake up early and feel energized in the morning — and night owls, those who are more alert and productive in the evening.But our world, Steel said, is overwhelmingly built for one type.Piers Steel says people are productive at different times, but our world tends to favour those who thrive in the early morning. (Getty Images)”We have built a culture around morning larks and those people who are naturally evening owls don’t fit,” said Steel.This mismatch between internal clocks and external demands can lead to poor focus, fatigue and affect our punctuality, he said.Culture, too, plays a powerful role in shaping time behaviour, said Ballard.Some cultures are “monochronic” — they treat time as linear and finite, value punctuality, and they focus on one thing at a time, she said. Others are “polychronic,” where multitasking is common and nurturing relationships often takes priority over strict scheduling.Ballard offers a quick self-test: Imagine you’re in the middle of a meaningful conversation, but you have a doctor’s appointment next. Can you walk away easily? If yes, you’re likely monochronic. If not, you’re probably of the latter kind.Steel adds that in some cultures, arriving exactly on time is even considered impolite and that being a little late is a sign of respect, giving the host more prep time — hence the idea of being “fashionably late,” he said.How do we live in a time-based world?Why, then, do we treat time as a moral yardstick?Ballard said our modern relationship with time was largely shaped by industrial capitalism, which took root during the 18th-century Industrial Revolution.Before industrialization, work and leisure followed natural rhythms and were often intertwined. But the rise of factories and wage labour emphasized productivity, punctuality and the idea of “time as money,” said Ballard.This shift, she said, also “neatly dovetailed” with the “Protestant ethic,” which stresses the virtue of hard work and efficiency.Based on how we’re naturally all different, Steel believes it would be important to rethink these systems that govern us.”We are kind of living in different temporal worlds,” he said. “If we could adjust work schedules to fit people better, we’re actually maximizing productivity.”Dawna Ballard, left, is an associate professor at the University of Texas at Austin who studies how time shapes human communication. Piers Steel, right, is a professor and research chair in the Haskayne School of Business at the University of Calgary and the author of The Procrastination Equation. (Submitted by Dawna Ballard, Submitted by Piers Steel)For Ballard, she wants people to think more intentionally about how they use their time.”If you’re flying a plane, then yeah, punctuality matters a lot,” she said.”But think about when we’ve had delayed flights — you would prefer that that flight be delayed and you get to your destination safely … we wouldn’t want a pilot to just be like, ‘Well, punctuality, we got to get there.'””[Time is a] tool [so] just think about how you are going to use it and why.”
Are you polychronic or monochronic? Struggling to manage your time could be due to your ‘time personality’
