00:11
So I do this time to time. Whenever I go back, I kind of pull out old books that I used to like
randomly and start rereading it now as an adult. And I recently, so this time around, I read 「モモ」
by ミハイル・エンデ. And I think it's translated by 大島香里さん. And
dude, did you like, so so deep, that book. It's, I forgot, how is that a 自動文学?
It's so deep. I couldn't understand the deepness of the book when I read as a child.
Yeah, I just remember it to be like a pretty fantastical.
Strange people. Yeah, strange people, strange town kind of thing. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And
dark, but not that. Yeah, I guess I only focused on like the fun, fantastical part.
You know, because we are never too busy when we are small.
Maybe that happens at one point, and we start to suffer from some kind of business.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. So maybe for those who didn't read 「モモ」 growing up, just roughly. So the
book concerns about 時間泥棒, like time thief, I guess. So that's like one of the main characters.
And the story is about how 「モモ」 battles with 時間泥棒. So the book talks a lot about
how these 時間泥棒 people are stealing time from regular folks. And the way they do it is by
making them become busy. And by planting the seed of idea that they must never waste time,
they must always optimize their efficiency. And by instilling that idea to regular people,
you know, people who used to enjoy just taking time to live life, they now feel like every
waking minute needs to be productive, and they have no time for slowing down and appreciating
life. And that's how they steal, quote unquote, time. So the concept of busyness gets talked
about a lot in the language that kids, you know, I guess it's meant to be for show accent or something,
can understand. But obviously, when we were reading as a kid, we did not pick that up on
03:01
that because we were not busy. So we were like, how is this a big issue? You know,
all the freedom to do whatever we wanted to do. Yeah, like, I mean, if you think about it,
the time used to feel so long, like a day used to feel so long, right? I think it was, yeah,
yeah, right. Like one week felt really long. It felt like forever until you need to go to bed
and wake up and see your friends again at school. Like it felt like a long time needs to pass.
And now, like, before you know it, a month has passed.
Even a year. Yeah, even a year. And so it's crazy. And I think I remember actually some
other podcast, I want to say it's Siamania, that talked about why like the time perception
changes from child to adulthood. I did not listen to that episode. I just know that they did some
episode about it. But anywho, yeah, like busy, like the concept of busyness. And we were just
talking about how we, well, after reading Momo, I think my biggest takeaway is I'll try not to say
I'm busy as hard as it is. Because it's a quick and convenient excuse that to sort of decline
invitations or offers. You can say that, oh, I'm too busy for XYZ. But we don't often think
deeply enough about what makes you busy. Right. What makes us busy? And like, are you really busy?
Is it that important? Yeah. Is it that important? Yeah. So one of the quotes that I can sort of
remember off the top of my head, but like not exactly like I'm paraphrasing this.
So somewhere in the middle of the book, Momo is talking to like the master of time like this like
wizard like figure who controls time. Big boss. Yeah. And she is asking him questions about time
and why the time thief, jikan dorobo people need to steal time from other people
and how they can do it. And the master answers her question saying that people get their time stolen
when they don't decide what to do with their time. So whenever they are not conscious about how
06:00
they're using their time, those are dead time like shinda jikan and they can be stolen. Yeah.
And if it's ikiteru jikan, if it's ikita jikan, like you choose how to spend this chunk of time,
then people cannot steal it from you. So important. So deep. Like, dude, so deep. So important.
It means how would you like to live your life? Basically, yeah. And that's like, I definitely
did not appreciate that deep insight when I was a kid. It really stuck with me and I think it
will stick with me for a long time. It really makes me think about how I'm allowing all these
dead time to exist in my life when I am, I don't know, when I am reading some completely utterly
useless netto kiji or when I am scrolling to social media looking at other people's lives
that I won't have. And it's neither doing bad nor good, in my opinion. But now I feel like that
empty time is officially bad. I was, you know, talking to you before we started when we were
having dinner and that I recently became super busy with something, always thinking about something.
So I wasn't, I didn't even have time to do NetServe or anything. So I started, and then I
just wondered what makes me busy, you know, every day. I'm thinking about something, I'm doing
something, I'm always busy but I don't feel productive enough or doing something meaningful
to my life. So I started to write down what makes me busy, what made me busy around that time.
I just really literally started to write down and then realized it was because of part of the work,
part of my works that had made me really busy with thinking about it. But if I drop that part,
that would make my life much, much more meaningful and fruitful. So what I would like to, I don't know,
suggest to my future myself is that whenever you're overwhelmed with the business,
just stop doing everything and then write down what has made you busy just to think and, you know,
09:00
look at yourself objectively. And then one by one you can think about is this really necessary,
you know, for you to make you busy for that reason. And then you can check, you know,
you can think about it and then, oh yeah, I need this time. Okay, this is, this is necessary,
you know, think about your project, like your science. Yeah. Yeah, it's okay. Yeah. But then
you will probably find something that is not really okay and then you can just throw it away
and then your life will become a little more... That's really, that's a good idea because, you
know, by stopping and writing down, you force yourself to... Re-evaluate. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like
take it outside of your brain and seeing... From outside. Outside, from like a third-person point
of view, you know, what are these items of various things that's spinning in your head and
it really lets you question, like, is this one necessary? Is this necessary? Is, you know,
could this be done by other people or could this be done later or lumped together with other tasks
so that it's more efficiently done or things like that. That's a good idea. I never really thought
about that. I usually just like forget it. Just think about it or forget it and then, you know,
you're always busy, right, with something. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think those are also hard. I think,
like, you know, limiting your social media or, like, those kind of, like, useless activity is,
like, more easily... Detectable. Detectable. But there are, like, ones you said where it's
the sneakier ones where you think it's important, you think it's necessary,
but when you really think about it, it's not. Maybe it's not. Yeah, because I think that's a
lot of work. And yeah, of course, like, you know, there are things that need to be done that's not
necessarily very important. You know, just because a task is unimportant doesn't mean it has, like,
it can not be done, right? Some silly things still need to get done. Yeah, but I think it's
very easy for all of these to not have a clear priority and just let your brain take up a space
12:04
in all of those things and your CPU is all used up. Yeah. Yeah, that's true. I'm gonna start
doing that. I'm gonna start writing it down. Yeah, I guess maybe that's why people do, like,
to-do list. Is that why? I don't know. I feel like your list is not the same as to-do list. No,
no. I have another to-do list for my work. Yeah. And another thing I recently started is to-do
list. It's not the to-do list, but the checklist for the items that will make me happier.
Every day checklist. So I started about 10 days ago. Okay. That's a very new...
Yeah, that's very new. I'm not sure if I can continue with that. Okay, okay, okay.
So I have all the, like, tiny things that will make me happier or just the basic stuff, like
cleaning or anything. Yeah, make coffee. Yeah, just tiny things, like breakfast and vegetables
and fruits for breakfast. That's daily tiny stuff, but that will make me, like, healthier
or happier. And then I just put the checkmark when you've done it. Yeah, when you feel better
when you've done it. But then there's a time, you know, several days of no checking. Yeah. And then
I think, okay, I'm not doing a good job, so I have to do it today. Okay, okay, okay. Interesting,
interesting. So, like, it's not a to-do list, but it's, like, want to do list. Like, want to do...
Checking out myself. Yeah, checking, checking your, like... I don't know. ...happiness points.
Like, like a go-gigen. Or healthy. Health points. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, interesting. I only had my
work checklist or to-do list before, but, yeah, in addition to my work,
you know, yeah, to-do list, I recently started my small, very small...
I mean, at least that sounds like more fun things to check off than your just work to-do list.
Yeah, it's, yeah, it's very different. Yeah. It's just, so it's, I feel like they reside in
in a very different place in my brain. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think it's almost like your,
your, like, health points list are, like, an additive list, where the more you add,
like, the mindset is adding more to your life. Like, adding more fun things to your life,
whereas to-do list is, like, subtracting, like, removing the task, finishing, completing,
and taking it out of sight of your system. Oh, I see. I don't know. Maybe that's just how I feel
15:02
about it. Yeah, maybe. Yeah, yeah, that's true, yeah. But that sounds like good. I don't know.
I'm not very good at keeping a list because I forget to tick off the list that I write. So,
I have my notebook on the desk every day so that I don't... I do, too.
So that I won't forget to check. I do, too, but I forget to check it all.
And, like, days pass, and I'm like, oh, I've done this, like, a long time ago. Why did I,
why is it still there? I don't know. I know that list-making is supposed to help, like,
motivate people because it's, like, satisfying to tick off your to-do list, right? Yeah. But,
like, I can only do to-do list, maybe, like, for the next few hours. Like, to-do list, things to do
for that day. Like, that's the extent of to-do list I can do. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And sometimes
not even, like, my attention span just does not go far than that. So, I think you made a good
point about, you said, to-do list is, like, subtraction, and the checklist for my life is,
like, addition, right? I think why I started 10 days ago is just to not forget,
to not forget the addition of my life. Because you are mostly busy just subtracting stuff out
of your life. So, so sad. That sounds really sad. That sounds really sad. I don't know. I know you
don't like that sad. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, no, no. Oh, my goodness. That's awful. It's,
but I also don't think that. My life is awful. No, but I, but I don't think. It's time-consuming.
Yeah, like, like, more. So that they won't steal my time. And, and as, according to the,
the master's definition, as long as you decide what to do with your time,
it doesn't matter if you're subtracting or adding to your life. Okay. It's, it's okay.
They won't steal your time. So, like, you just have to be conscious about, like, how to spend
your time, basically. So, like, you know, this, um, I'm about to start a whole new topic, so we
should probably start this, a new recording, but I have some ideas on this concept of time. Okay.
That's it for the show today. Thanks for listening, and find us on X at Eigo de Science.
That is E-I-G-O-D-E-S-C-I-E-N-C-E. See you next time!
