Greetings to anyone looking to bring several minutes of creative thinking into their day! I hope our last nudge using a purchase receipt helped you find value in your creative investments. Perhaps you documented an unpurchasable concept such as a moment of creative flow, or found unexpected beauty in a collage of crumpled thermal receipt paper.
This week, we shift our attention from the record of past transactions to the relentless marker of the future: the watch. I’m talking about the timepiece we wear, the one that lives on our wrist or resides in a pocket, the kind that exists solely to keep track of time, separate from the distraction of a phone. A watch with hands, a simple digital readout, or a classic pocket watch—any will do.
Our relationship with time is complex and deeply personal. Pay too close attention to the clock, we feel its pressure; ignore it when it matters, we pay the price. Yet, releasing our constant observation of time when it doesn’t matter is a powerful creative choice.
Awareness of time’s passing depends on the task we are doing and our state of mind. Time flies when we are engrossed in a creative task and drags when we are waiting for inspiration to arrive. I notice my sense of time changing as I get older; it seems to accelerate, the minutes shrinking into moments. But that acceleration is okay if I can use the awareness of time passing to nudge me into a more creative, intentional space.
Clockwise has so many meanings besides just marking time’s direction, doesn't it? A clock’s face projects progress, order, and a belief that there is a natural flow in the order of things. Watches are potent symbols in our time sensitive consumer culture. How else can Amazon get it to your door one hour after you click that yellow button? Watches are shorthand for wealth and status, or a conversation starter about history and craftsmanship.
Wearing one can be a rejection of constant phone-checking, an embrace of simple technology over complex digital distraction, or simply, a desire not to be late. Even a broken watch—forever fixed at a single, unchanging moment—can be a helpful creative device.
During this time of year, our sense of time can feel fractured or beyond our control. By using the watch to support our commitment to a more creative life we reclaim our time, not just clock it.
One Minute Monologue: Set your watch or a clock in front of you and watch the second hand for exactly one minute. Don't look away. Write a monologue or a poem that reflects your internal state during those 60 seconds. Use the tension between the actual passing of time and your perception of it.
Turn Back Time: The clockwise movement is often associated with progress. Imagine the reverse. What does counter-clockwise (anti-clockwise) movement represent? Write a piece of fiction, a poem, or design a new symbol based on the idea of moving backward in time, rejecting progress, or returning to a starting point.
Broken Watch Theory: Find a watch that is broken or set it to an arbitrary, unchanging time. Write a short story where the time displayed on the watch is a secret symbol, a clue, or a universal law that governs a character's life. Why is this specific time important?
Show and Prove: Choose a watch, whether a luxury brand or a simple plastic one. Write a full, detailed description (like a catalogue entry) that focuses entirely on its intangible values. For example, instead of describing the "gold casing," describe it as "The Casing of Three Generations of Patience." Use the language of status to describe emotional investments.
Holiday Time Out: The holidays often feel rushed. Assign specific, short time limits using your watch to different tasks: 10 minutes to wrap a gift, 5 minutes to write a thoughtful card, 2 minutes (max) to worry about who will forget to buy you a gift! The restriction of the watch is meant to encourage focus, not pressure. Write down what you achieve in one of these short bursts.
This holiday season, when pressure mounts and minutes feel scarce, use the watch as an anchor. Don't just track the minutes; use the awareness of them to nudge yourself into moments of focus, creativity, and presence. By recognizing that time flies faster when we are engaged, we can intentionally choose engagement over distraction.
Thanks for taking the time to invest in your creative side. The watch, in its quiet, consistent mechanics, reminds us that while time seems linear, our experience of it is anything but.
This column was written with the help of Google’s Gemini Advanced, a powerful generative AI writing tool.
