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Feb 1, 2008

Polychronicity

Know what that is?

The word is not in Webster's Dictionary. Or Cambridge. Or Oxford.

But you watch -- I guarantee it's gonna be in all three major dictionaries in five years. Or less. In fact, I think it may be headed for "household word" status a lot sooner than that.

Why? Because the ADD revolution is already happening, and new concepts are part of it. In fact, we are the new concept (as well as a very ancient one).

One of the best descriptions of polychronicity I've seen is on Harley Hahn's Page (b/t/w if this guy isn't a classic example of Alternative Dimensional Design put to constructive use, I'll eat my shoe. Except I don't own any shoes -- at least any that I can locate-- right now). I suggest checking it out; I won't even try to do a description of that level. But here's an excerpt:

"...polychrons prefer to keep their time unstructured, changing from one activity to another as the mood takes them. Although polychrons can meet deadlines, they need to do so in their own way. A polychron does not want detailed plans imposed upon him, nor does he want to make his own detailed plans. Polychrons prefer to work as they see fit without a strict schedule, following their internal mental processes from one minute to the next.

Monochrons relate to time differently: to them, time is discrete, not continuous. Monochrons see time as being divided into fixed elements — seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, and so on — temporal blocks that can be organized, quantified and scheduled. Monochrons love to plan in detail, making lists, keeping track of their activities, and organizing their time into a daily routine. "

Even though it does not appear in the dictionary (yet), polychronicity is not a new concept. It has actually been in use in the field of anthropology since 1959, when it first appeared in Edward Hall's classic book, The Silent Language. Hall was a renowned cultural anthropologist who mainly focused on the "dimensional" perceptions of different cultures (no, I didn't get the "ADD" idea from him, but it fits, huh?). Psychologists picked up on the concept, and started using it in scholarly study by the 1990's. Now, it's getting popularized by people like Harley Hahn...and people like you & me.

If you are an ADD person, I don't even need to tell you how the concept of polychronicity is relevant to us. The fact that it came out of cultural anthropology is very important, because it points to the fact that human beings have very different ways of perceiving and working with time. This is not some fly-by "hippie" concept coughed out to justify ADD procrastination. It's established social science.

Moreover, thinking about this idea gives us a chance to zoom out to a world view again. Polychronic cultures tend to be ancient cultures. This means (amongst other things) that, except for colonization and that being-wiped-off-the-face-of-the-Earth thing, many of these cultures are sustainable. The fact that they haven't kept compulsively "evolving" (i.e. perpetually recreating an environment that fits them rather than the other way around) means that they have found something that works. They do not need to reinvent themselves at lightning speed in order to survive and be happy (or well at least they didn't before the Wal Mart opened...). And they really are where they are, not located upon some artificially imposed time/space matrix for the sake of synchronicity (hmm...Synchroni-City...isn't that the place where they invented the traffic jam??).

People might debate me on the "but are they really happy?" thing (I know, I know, Willie Wonka just had to rescue the Oomah Loompahs from eating those darn caterpillars or God knows they never would've found chocolate...), but it doesn't take an anthropologist to figure out that excessive reliance on a monochronic paradigm in our society is making a lot of people miserable and abusive. It's not that all monochronic people are lame. Lots of cool things come out of monochronic abilities, and there's actually a lot of creative potential in synchronicity. But living with a monochronic grid as the only paradigm, and the expectation that everyone will fit precisely in this matrix 100% of the time SUCKS...especially if you happen to be ADD.

Somebody's gotta change this beat already.

So do yourself and the planet a favor: take a minute (an ADD minute!) to think about one way that you can bend the music of the world around your beautiful polychronic rhythm.

Flow!

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