Everything seems to have a sequel these days, so why not the topic of Time Vampires?

I first identified this phenomenon back in 2021 in this blog but I’ve made several observations since then, as I continue my study of these unseen creatures that rob us all of our most precious commodity.

Their best work is done over weekends, as I’m sure you’ve noticed how fast they go by. But you would think after a busy could of days of devouring our time on the weekends that on Monday, they might relax a bit with their bellies full and give us a couple of days off.

But you see, the more they eat, the more they want. And Mondays apparently are the unofficial Thanksgiving Day of the work week for Time Vampires.

You wake up, start to plan out your day and the schedule appears to be very doable. Project 1, followed by project 2 and so on. A nicely-paced way to start out a new work week.

But then, an unplanned project emerges, followed by another. You check your email, and there are two more! The time you allotted for the day’s tasks was already fairly tight, but now, it will require strict focus and careful balancing. Then one of the tasks you finished needs a revision and instantly, the hour in which it should have been accomplished is now 90 minutes. Which means, you’ll have to speed through some of the upcoming projects in order to get them all done today. Then you start thinking, “What can I bump to tomorrow?” But if you do that, tomorrow’s schedule has already suffered its first Time Vampire attack.

I’m reminded of the old adage, “Why put off something to tomorrow when you could put it off to the day after tomorrow?”

I’ll be honest, I have never actually seen a Time Vampire, but I asked OpenAI.com to create a picture of what it could look like.

To me, that looks like one of the blood-sucking varieties of vampires, but blood I can spare. My body can make more. Time, niw that’s a valuable, irreplaceable commodity.

I don’t have an answer for Time Vampires. For that matter, I don’t even have a question. I just know they exist and that three more came in the room this morning while I was writing this. I think they’re holding their annual convention in my office.

The bottom line–just know they are real and the more you’re aware they exist, the better you’ll be able to minimize their effects.

Good luck.

Tim Hunter