Loved this article but I wonder if it might be better to encapsulate the small idea, rather than take the example at its full breadth. I.e., we tend to live against smaller units of measure than larger ones. As Matt Thomas muses in this article, most of us work on against a daily schedule, rather than longer, say, seasonal units of time.

I do enjoy a bit of romance about the changing season (hello, autumn!) and largely agree that measuring our productivity in a day is arbitrary. However, the hidden power here appears to be in the freedom to decide how time is spent and not in the allotments we spend it against. Finding ways to live fully through a day, a week, a season, an epoch, is paramount.

Do you want to spend a summer evening under the stars? Or walking among falling autumn leaves? Even if that conflicts with prior engagements? Should you plan your life differently in the future to satisfy your needs? Luxurious thinking, sure, but I’d argue that some small measure of “luxury” ought to be included in our schedules. Having just spent last week hiking in the Brecon Beacons, I can’t tell you how much the opportunity to enjoy the changing season first hand has affected me.

My thoughts on living a good life continue to shift. Integrating some of the rhythms of the wider world seem to inspire my creativity in ways that otherwise ignoring them never do. Not to say that I will forgo our daily task list, rather that I ought to create space—even if just a little—to take off my narrow blinders and explore. Perhaps then, I should see fuller living in the same light as saving for the future: difficult, but with discipline, achievable.