Time is one of our most precious resources. How we view it, prioritize it, and use it plays a big part in our success on many levels. We need to value and pay attention to it. And for many of us, that has long meant wearing a watch. As valuable as our time is, watches may, unintentionally, be hurting rather than helping our time choices and productivity. If time management and improving your productivity is your goal, I suggest you stop watching your watch.

How Our Watches Help Us

Before I explain my possibly counterintuitive point, let’s talk about how watches can help us.

  • Watches can help us be on time. This should be at the top of the list. Being prompt helps us stay on track and doesn’t keep others waiting either.
  • Watches keep us mindful of time. To be highly productive, we must recognize the importance of effective time management, which a watch can do.
  • Watches can help us maintain a sense of urgency. Cognitive awareness of time can help us create a healthy level of urgency, which supports greater productivity.
  • Watches can make a fashion statement. I don’t discuss fashion much here, but hey, it is true. And this is one reason people wear them (or don’t wear them).

We can agree that watches can be helpful. But they aren’t the only tool you can use to gain the advantages above. In today’s world, we have access to time in other ways (like the device you’re using to read this right now). Beyond the fashion point, watches still might not be our best option to increase our productivity and effectiveness.

How Our Watches Hurt Us

Watches hurt us most when we look at them too much. Why is that?

  • Looking at your watch promotes multitasking. Or what we call multitasking. Actually, the minute you look at your watch (whether you are conscious of it or not) you are switching your brain’s focus from your last task to checking the time. That switch (and the resulting switch back to the previous task) makes you less productive overall.
  • Looking at your watch creates a distraction. Chances are you have enough distractions in your life. Adding another source of them isn’t helping you be more productive. This is far more problematic with smart watches – which offer more opportunities for distraction than just the time. Ask yourself: Is looking at your watch the best use of your time in that moment? Rarely is that the case.
  • Looking at your watch sends a message to others. It may signal to them your time and priorities are more important than they are. It could indicate that you want to move off your conversation, or that you are bored and uninterested. While those things may be true, is that the best way to signal it? And more to the point, do you want to signal those things at all? Besides messages you didn’t mean to share, you might be sending messages you never actually meant.

The Dumb Thing About Smart Watches

Watching our watches was a problem when we were only looking at the time. Smart watches have only raised the stakes. Now you can check texts, emails, the weather, your pulse rate, the news, or practically anything else besides the time. Having a minicomputer on your wrist can be cool and fun and may be helpful at times. But it could be hurting your productivity, raising your stress, and potentially damaging your relationships more than you realize.

Am I suggesting you swear off watches forever?

Not necessarily.

But carefully consider if – or when - your watch is helping you be more productive. And also recognize when it might be a hindrance.

Kevin Eikenberry is a recognized world expert on leadership development and learning and is the Chief Potential Officer of The Kevin Eikenberry Group. He has spent over 30 years helping organizations across North America, and leaders from around the world, on leadership, learning, teams and teamwork, communication and more.

Twice he has been named by Inc.com as one of the Top 100 Leadership and Management Experts in the World and 100 Great Leadership Speakers for Your Next Conference. The American Management Association named him a “Leaders to Watch” and he has been twice named as one of the World's Top 30 Leadership Professionals by Global Gurus. Top Sales World has named him a Top Sales & Marketing Influencer several times, and his blog has been named on many “best of” lists. LeadersHum has named him one of the 200 Biggest Voices in Leadership in 2023.

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