Time, focus and a short life

Seneca thought most people do not have too little time; they let it leak away. His advice, written nearly two thousand years before smartphones, fits surprisingly well with notifications, endless scrolling and the study session that never quite starts.

Seneca's big argument

• In On the Shortness of Life (usually dated to around AD 49, addressed to Paulinus, probably a relative of Seneca's wife), Seneca argues that life is long enough if it is managed well (Wikipedia).
• He describes people who are always busy with trivial things, whom he calls the 'occupati' (the preoccupied), and says they waste their lives.
• He points out that people guard their money and property carefully but let others take their time freely, because time is hard to see.
• He praises people who use their time well, including by spending it with the great thinkers of the past.

Letter 1: 'Nothing is ours, except time'

• Seneca's first letter to Lucilius (Gummere's translation) urges him to "gather and save your time, which till lately has been forced from you, or filched away, or has merely slipped from your hands."
• He writes: "the largest portion of our life passes while we are doing ill, a goodly share while we are doing nothing, and the whole while we are doing that which is not to the purpose."
• His advice: "hold every hour in your grasp."
• And: "While we are postponing, life speeds by." And: "Nothing, Lucilius, is ours, except time."

Marcus Aurelius on doing what is in front of you

• Meditations 4.17 (Long): "Do not act as if thou wert going to live ten thousand years. Death hangs over thee. While thou livest, while it is in thy power, be good."
• Meditations 2.5 suggests doing each task well, as if it were the last act of your life. In practice: give the essay in front of you your full attention, rather than half of it.
• Meditations 4.3: "For nowhere either with more quiet or more freedom from trouble does a man retire than into his own soul." You do not need a holiday to find a calm few minutes.
• Remembering that life is short (memento mori) is meant to make you act on what matters now, not to make you gloomy (Classical Wisdom).

A Seneca-style time audit for phones and study

• Open your phone's screen-time report for the last week. Write down your top three apps and the daily average.
• Sort a typical day into Seneca's three leaks: time 'forced from you' (things you must do), time 'filched away' (notifications, autoplay, other people's demands) and time that 'slipped from your hands' (drifting, putting off).
• Choose one leak to plug this week. Example: turn off all non-essential notifications, or keep the phone in another room for the first 45 minutes of study.
• For detailed techniques, see the lesson on taming distraction and your phone in the Self-Discipline and Motivation module.

Using time well is not the same as being busy

• Seneca criticised busyness itself. A packed calendar of things that do not matter to you is still wasted time.
• Rest, prayer, family meals, friendship and sleep are not wasted time. Choosing them on purpose is exactly what Seneca means by holding your hours in your grasp.
• A good test: at the end of the day, could you say how you spent it and why?