Is time really the only thing we can control?

[Bob]

I was thinking about this.  It's a little work, but not too difficult, to plan out things just by time.  Not necessarily what you'll do during that time, but the project itself.  Then you can break it down more if you want.

When I was focusing more on being efficient I remember that's where I ended up.  And then tonight I was remembering that's similar to what Bernhard was saying on here.

I suppose goals are another way of planning, independent of time.  The problem I've found is that at some point you come up to an unknown or there's a skill missing that's needed to get to that goal.  At that point the plan stops.  But you can keep throwing time at it.  That would be thinking time rather than doing time though.

[littletune]

I didn't know we could control time  I don't understand this so well...

[keyboardclass]

That would all be fine if we knew that time actually existed - beyond the brain.

[alessandro]

Maybe there wasn't the need to dig deep into your question, but I'm also more like...

That would all be fine if we knew that time actually existed - beyond the brain.

If time were a concept, which it probably is - if I follow my feelings, it could probably well be that "time" does not exist at all, it's comparable to trying to define the "now".

But you can keep throwing time at it.  That would be thinking time rather than doing time though.

"Throwing time at something".   That sounds funny, but what is it, Bob ? Sounds like a metaphor for postponement or nearasthenia...

When I have the choice between doing something and not doing something I often choose the second one.

No, there could be some illusion that one could shape or even free the future, but "control time", that goes beyond my brain-capacities.
It would surprise me that time existed at all.  But maybe one can prove me wrong.

Kind, galactical greetings.

[hodgeinator55]

If we could control time, we would have time machines already.

[littletune]

I think time both exists and doesn't exist, depends how you look at it... or from where... and that's the point of the whole universe...

[Bob]

"Control time" as in controlling our schedule.  Plot out time for a project.  I'm thinking that might be the only way I can get some things done. 

It's nice because you can map out your time on paper.  That's easy to do.

The downside is attaching a goal to it, putting a goal in time.  Because if you don't know the correct path to the goal, you won't get their when you plan to.  Or at all.

But you can continue to "throw time at it," to block out time in your schedule. 

Within that blocked time though you can work in different ways.
If it's a known process, then it's just a matter of going from point A to point B.  Easy.
Or if it's maintainance, like a routine, then it's just a matter of doing that.
Or it's planning/goal setting.
Or, if it's unknown, it could be thinking, experimenting.
Or a combination.

So if I wanted faster scales in thirds, I can block out some time to practice them.  But that's not cutting it for me now.  My speed has topped out on the thirds.  So I blocked out more time for thirds still but didn't bother playing them.  I thought about them instead and I'm thinking my form is off.  So I can go back and experiment with them.  So far so good on that. 

I just keep coming back, at least for me, that the most basic thing is to block out time for projects.  At least I can do that and hopefully it will overcome the goal eventually.  On some things I might be missing a piece to get toward my goal though, so just working on it (which is pretty vague) isn't necessarily going to cut it.

[nyiregyhazi]

That would all be fine if we knew that time actually existed - beyond the brain.

? It has been rather widely observed and quantified by scientists and laymen alike. If you're going down the philosophical road of "how do we know anything is real?", the brain is included in that which we must question the existence of.

Where does this bizarre questioning about the existence of time stem from- and what makes you think it might exist only in the brain (in spite of countless physical observations of its manifestation)?

[Bob]

*coughcough-time management, not physics-coughcough*

[nyiregyhazi]

*coughcough-time management, not physics-coughcough*

Exactly- that's what I mean. Time as in what passes on a clock. I see no burning need to question its existence via pseudo-intellectual philosophy (that apparently ignores the widely acknowledged work of time-keeping devices) nor do we need to explore whether it travels at a different rate when approaching the speed of light.

[keyboardclass]

? It has been rather widely observed and quantified by scientists and laymen alike.

O ye of little imagination!