How much time should things take?

[Corrupted Unicorn]

Because in a world that pressures us to do everything faster and faster, it's easy to loose track of how long things should really take   

I particularly have this problem where I have this deep belief that everything should be done almost at the same instant the idea was conceived: absurd, I know, but a strange core belief that's hard to shake off! 

And we know that things worth their salt take time: slow-cooked meals, trees, art, changing habits, cultivating skills.  But how much time?

I think I've lost the sense of how much time should things take in general. Maybe society too, since it currently rewards instant gratification thru social media and games (not gonna lie, videogames are excellent sources of instant gratification  ).

In this accelerated world, how long should things actually take? How do you become aware that you're speeding up or setting unreasonable expectations of how long you should take? What are things worth doing fast and things worth doing slow?

(Daft Punk - Too Long)

[CosmicRot]

Honestly.. as a disabled person with chronic pain I am regularly much much slower than other people with a majority of things I do so I've always been stressed out and have this constant negativity associated with being slow.
I'm working very hard for it to become a neutral association cause slow is just a descriptor. It's not harmful to be slow in 99% of cases, so why should it hurt me so much? Why should we be so impatient when creating and doing things we love and enjoy? it's hard to not be impatient when it comes to things we don't enjoy as much, but it's not the end of the world, there are things we can do to fill our waiting, or make the task less gross [like listening to music or a podcast if you're able to]

I dunno. I think the time things take is the time it's supposed to take. I know that's vague, but as someone who regularly takes 8+ hours for most art pieces that aren't doodles, and can take up to 40 hours for a single piece of digital art... It doesn't hurt to want to be able to do thinks quicker or more streamlined, but it will take how long it's meant to.

Same can be said for anything I think. Paperwork can be streamlined, art can be streamlined, cooking can be streamlined.. but there needs to be care involved that things are done correctly or in a way you enjoy, or to make sure the final product is what *you want* or need... rushing just makes things take longer I think, cause you usually have to redo things you know??

Things that should be done fast, in my opinion, can fall into a few categories.
☆ Things That suck/you're forced to do, like a job that feels pointless [think capitalism ew]
☆ Things that genuinely just don't take a lot of time or the whole point is being fast
^{[For the first one, think about using the bathroom, putting shoes on. etc.
Obviously for disabled people these things can be a bit slower for us compared the whole,
but in comparison to daily life they're still often quick outside of really specific scenarios!
For the second, think about things like roller coasters or jumpscares, or whatever.]}
☆ Things that are repetitive. The entire task might take quite awhile, but the individual parts should be relatively quick, I think.

And for things that should be slow....
☆Literally everything else.

Like yeah obviously there's middle grounds between everything! Also some things might not fit neatly into the fast categories or might fit into multiple. There are things that either neither fast nor slow, but in comparison to fast things they might seem really slow.. and some things are slower than others.. but yeah

This is a bit rambly, I'm very tired haha, but! I hope this all was coherent. My therapist has taught me that it's important to appreciate being slow sometimes. It helps you keep your energy levels up, it helps you enjoy things longer, it helps pass the time.. Sure being slow can be annoying and even depressing sometimes, but most of life is like that I think. There's good and bad in everything. Sometimes things we want to be slow are too fast, and vice versa...
We can try to make the things we want longer to be slower and the things we want shorter to be faster, otherwise I think it'll just take however long it's supposed to.

[Vidknight]

Honestly I have the exact same belief where I sometime feel that things should be done more faster, or at least I should be faster. It's a hard idea to shake off, because of how fast everything is.

I noticed that a lot of other people posting on the internet also feels this way. The amount of time I see somebody say that they're burnt out with creating because they feel that they're forced to keep posting, stuff all the time. Just so they can stay relevant. the sense of slowness is definitely something that had been lost as time went on . This even effects me, as I find myself feeling the need to rush my site, or art pieces .

As for how I know when I'm going to fast, and I need to slow down? Usually it's when I notice myself rushing things, or procrastinating on something. Instead of taking it slow I'm going way too fast, and try to rush things. This is usually a horrible idea as rushing things means I make more mistakes, which means I need to go out my way to fix those mistakes. Which ends up taking longer    .

Also for how long things should take it's hard to say. It depends on so many factors like what are you doing. your skill level, the project, your tools, etc.

Getting the sense of going slower is possible though. What I do is when creating something no matter what it is I try to force myself to slow down. I do one part of thing I'm created, stop doing what I'm doing, and relax (I recommend just sitting back in your chair, or walking around your room ). After a couple of minutes resume what I was doing. Doing this usually helps me slow down a bit, and actually think what I'm doing through. Granted it's not perfect for me, as sometimes I don't take a break, or I hop on some app, or game, and get pulled away for way longer than I anticipated  . But when I do it, I find that it works  .