Editor’s Note: This is a guest post by Rico of My Dear Friends.
Do you constantly check your watch or your cellphone to see what time it is? Do you feel like you always have to know exactly what time it is right in that moment, no matter where you are or what you are doing? Well, here is another approach: leave that watch at home and rely on your natural sense of time. You’d be surprised how accurate it can be with just a little bit of practice.
And of course, it can also be a great source of pleasure watching the disbelief and astonishment on your friends’ faces when you, again, guess the time correctly down to five minutes. Truth is, western culture is so time driven that time is always present in its absolute form, watches, cellphones, at train stations, bus stops, computers, cars, pretty much anything that has an electronic display almost certainly has the ability to show the time and makes use of it. So people tend to forget that for thousands and thousands of years, human beings as well as many other living creatures relied on the sun and that inner sense of time to tell whether to sleep, wake, hunt, collect food, or gather for meetings.
With just a couple of simple steps and a little bit of practice, you can rediscover that age old instinct.
- Find your fixture: Think of the last time you knew the time for sure and picture that time in your head. Where were you? What type of clock was it you read the time from? Was it the alarm clock in your bedroom, your cellphone when you took that call at the train station, the little clock on your computer screen? Be specific, imagine the moment, the place, and the time.
- Fill the space between now and then: Once you have your fixture time, try to recall all the things you did and places you went after that right up until now. This should give you a feeling of how much time has passed.
- Relax and listen: Or rather watch what time appears before your inner eye. First think of the hour, then of the minutes. If it helps, you can close your eyes a bit. Let your subconscious mind do the work. No magic here, just instincts at work.
- No cutting corners: When people are asked for the time, they usually simplify and round up to the next full five or even the next full 15 minutes. Don’t do that when you are guessing the time. Once you have your time, stick to it. Even if it is not an even number (not in the mathematical sense) like 1:43 or 4:12. Don’t favor 0, 15, 30, and 45 only because they happen to be marked on every clock. This also has the nice psychological side effect of making your guess seem more credible, but more on that later.
- Don’t second guess: Again, once you have your time, stick to it. The first guess is usually the best. You can, however, do a cross-check to see if all the activities you recalled in step 2 would actually be possible in the time that has passed between your fixture time and now. If you realize that your time is way off, give it a second try.
If you have always carried a watch, chances are that your natural sense of time is a bit underdeveloped by now. Don’t let this discourage you, just keep practicing. If you get as close as 30 minutes it is a good start. Twenty minutes is actually pretty good and will already be helpful. The real skill is to get as close as five minutes or even up to a perfect match.
Here is one more thing that won’t exactly help you getting the time right, but it will help with the impression that you always guess the time right: use a little psychology. Announce that you are about to tell what time it is without looking at a clock. Then have one of your friends check how close you actually got with your guess. If you are totally off, don’t mention it again. It hapens. However, if you do get close make sure they acknowledge it.
It is like that one lucky guy who won the lottery and now is all over the news. What you don’t get to see is all the other people who bought a ticket, but won nothing. For guessing the time, the odds are more in your favor, but still, by making people remember your hits and ignore your misses, your guesses will appear more credible over time.
Follow these steps, learn how to rely on your natural sense of time and you won’t have to worry about forgetting your watch at home and you can be proud to have reconnected with one of nature’s gifts.
译文:
训练你自己，每次都准确地猜对时间
你经常看你的手表或移动电话来确认时间吗？不论你在哪里或是在做什么，你是否觉得总是需要知道这一刻的确切时间吗？那么，这里有另外一个方法：把手表放在家里，依靠你对时间的直觉。只需要一点点的练习，你将会惊奇地发现这有多么地准。
当然，当你一次又一次地在5分钟的误差内猜对时间，看到朋友脸上那副难以置信和不可思议的表情，将是你很大一部分乐趣的来源。事实上，西方的文化认为时间的运行在于时间总是以固定的形式存在着，如手表，移动电话，在火车站，公交停靠站，电脑上，车上，有这么多的电子形式可以显示时间和利用时间。所以人们渐渐忘掉在数千年前，人类和其他生物一样，是依据太阳和对时间的自然感觉来决定是否要睡觉，起床，打猎，收割或聚集会议的。
通过两个简单的步骤和一些练习，你就可以重新找回那远古时代的直觉。
● 设定你的时间：回想一下，上次你知道确切的时间是在什么时候，在你的脑海中用图画记录下这个时间。那时你在哪里？你是通过什么样的时钟来知道时间的？是你卧室里的闹钟，在火车站响起的你的移动电话，还是你电脑屏幕上的小时钟？具体点，想象那个时刻，那个场景和那个时间。
● 把从那个时间到现在为止的场景都填满：一旦你确定了一个时间，试着回想起从那个时刻起你做的所有的事和去过的地方。这会让你感觉到多少时间过去了。
● 放松并聆听：或用你内心的眼睛看看时间是怎么过去的。首先，想想一个小时，然后每分钟。如果有用的话，你可以闭上你的眼睛一会，让你的的潜意识来工作。这里没有魔法，只是凭直觉。
● 没有捷径：当人们被问到时间的时候，他们通常简单地说大概要五分钟甚至十五分钟。当你猜测时间的时候不要这么做。一旦你确定了时间，坚持它。即使它不是一个整数，像1：43 或4：12 。不要仅仅因为0，15，30和45在时钟上被用来标志时间，就乐于使用它们。
● 不要猜第二次：再强调一次，一旦你确定了自己的时间，就坚持它。第一次的猜测通常是最准确的。但是，你可以做再次的确认，看看第二个步骤，在你的确定时间和当前时间内，你所回想起来的活动是否确实是在那个时间发生的。如果你发现你的时间差了很远，那就再试一次。
如果你总是携带手表，那么到如今你对于时间的直觉已经不灵敏了。不要因为这个泄气，继续练习。如果你猜的接近30分钟，这就是一个好的开始了。20分钟，非常好了，而且已经开始见效了。真正的技能是接近于5分钟甚至完全准确。
这里还有一件事虽然不会帮助你准确地获得时间，但却可以帮助你加深每次猜对时间的印象：使用一点心理学。宣布下你将会不依靠钟表而说出现在是几点。然后让你的一个朋友帮你确认你的猜测有多接近。如果你差的很远，那么不要再提起它，它已经发生了。但是，如果你猜得很接近，请确保他们都记得这件事。
这就像一个幸运的家伙中了彩票，新闻铺天盖地而来，你没有看到剩下的其他买了彩票的人，什么也没中。对于猜时间来说，只要你愿意，就可以增加成猜中的几率。但还是那句话，让大家记住你猜中的时候，忘掉你失误的时候。你的猜测会越来越可靠的。
按照这些步骤，学习怎样依靠你对时间的直觉，你将不再需要担心将手表忘在家里，也可以为再次获得了一个有关本能的天赋而自豪。