Making peace with Time

What do you think Dali was inspired by when he came up with the melting clocks?

Only recently I came to appreciate the way most people in Oman relate to time. Westerners are raised to believe that time is money, and the quicker you are the better you are. Time is an essential measure for them.  They are always in a hurry and claim (or pretend) to be very time conscious.  I was puzzled initially and  only recently came to actually experience that here, quicker is not necessarily the better, and time efficiency is not always your best advisor.  Taking the time, “sleeping on it” could put things into better perspective and you end up taking a better decision (or end up not having to take one).  This obviously only works if there is a social acceptance of being slow, which in Oman is more or less there. If everybody around you is going crazy to get things done quickly you will not be appreciated to hold up things in the hope of a...more though-full  outcome.

With the service sectors and cost of labor gradually growing though, it will be interesting to see how this cultural norm is changing or prevailing.

One thing for sure, I think westerners should sometimes ask themselves if their way is really always the best way, given the bigger picture and the cultural context.  I think adapting (but not giving up) your views and routines to what you see and feel (!) around you is a far better way of achieving results, than  just exhibiting arrogance and labeling people (or even worst: groups of people) inefficient or lazy.