When you are told to be at a party at 6:30, everyone knows that the party isn’t going to start until 7:00 or maybe 7:30.
Or maybe you had a meeting and people slowly trickled in with the excuse, “Sorry, I’m on Hawaiian time.”
While it is accepted and tolerated in Hawaii, not always, there seems to be a loss of translation even amongst people in Hawaii about the meaning of time.
The idea of Hawaiian time is the relaxed attitude of being punctual, which people all over the country refers it as a common perception of life in Hawaii being relaxed where people don’t really care about things.
What is Time?
Can you think of a moment when time flew by when you were working on something enjoyable? Or what about a time when you were so bored you wanted to run through the wall because it felt like time just stood still?
We’ve all experienced laying in bed sick, feeling like the days go on forever. There are also those times when we are training, playing, or having a good time at the beach, and time seems to speed up.
Our perception of time can be dictated by the way we feel physically, mentally, and even spiritually. So the question to focus on is not, How much time do you have? But instead, How are you using your time?
Today, we know time as a set of intervals measured out by a clock through hours and minutes. We’ve become so fixated on the idea of time, that we have alarm clocks to wake up to, get our morning news at a certain time, need to arrive at work at a certain time, and the rest of our days are split up into intervals of time. You have an hour lunch break, 10-minute break, the notion to stand up every 30 minutes to stretch, set times for meetings, and our chain to Father Time seems to get shorter and shorter as we fill up our days with more things to do.
We touched upon this idea in breaking out of the ‘Busy Trap‘. Society seems to praise those who fill their days with meetings, projects, more meetings, planning, and more meetings. You probably wonder, with all the time meeting and planning, when will you ever find the time to actually do the work?
The New Meaning of Hawaiian Time
The western culture puts a lot of emphasis on time management to gain control of your life to become more productive and successful in your day. There’s books, apps, seminars, and courses that teaches you how to break down every hour and minute for the most optimal performance.
Life, today, is constantly changing with the churning of new technology being thrown out there on a daily basis. And we are being programmed like machines to stick to calibrated mode of time. We punch-in and punch-out.
While it may be crazy to recommend getting rid of your clock, it would be important to assess how you view time and how you use it.
When it comes to gaining control of your life, it’s best to manage the quality of time and what you do with it rather than the quantity of time you give for a specific experience. But as much as you want to take control of your life, you have to be respectful of those you have a potential of making an impact on, good or bad.
There must be a balance between the traditional ways of time and how time is viewed today because it is the world we live in. Hawaiian Time is not the relaxed mindset of not worrying about punctuality. The Hawaiian value of ho’ihi, or respect, shows that if your lateness or idea of time has a negative impact on a group or individual then you are not practicing the value of ho’ihi.
How to Embrace the New Hawaiian Time
Meaning and definitions mean nothing without action. Here are a few ways you can make sure you are showing Ho’ihi and remembering the traditional ways of how old Hawaii understood the value of time.
- When you find yourself in the flow, don’t worry about the time, ride it for as long as you can. Like the waves, creativity and productivity rolls in like sets.
- Focus on the activity, especially those with family and friends, not the time allotted for the activity.
- Try this at your next meeting or gathering:
- Forget the idea of time. The essence and spirit of the gathering dictates the pace and mood. If the mood is lively, work with it until the energy levels fall. If the mood is dreary and unproductive, rather than force discussion – regroup for another time but don’t make it a habit.
- When you have nothing in your schedule, enjoy your time and don’t worry about how long you haven’t done anything. Those are special moments where you can own your sense of time.
- “I not late, I’m on Hawaiian time.” No. You are late, the world doesn’t evolve around you
Time is precious and what we do with our time matters.
Do you think the saying, “I not late, I’m on Hawaiian time”, is seen as a good or bad thing?
