For the last three weeks I have rarely been aware of the time. I have not worn a watch; or had any real idea of the time of day. One of the few benefits of being sick.

I returned to work today and instantly I found myself driven by time. Before I had even got up I found myself thinking “What time do I want to get to work” and so working back when do I need to get up, etc. Why? I have no set working hours. I work flexi-time. Why am I setting myself a goal to get there by nine or whatever.

Once at work I am constantly aware of the time, I have meetings to go to, for example. Why is there this worship, this devotion to time. I feel sometimes that we work against time and let it work against us. When surely it should be the other way round.

Speaking of meetings, why can I not set up a meeting in Outlook without specifying a precise start time. Around two o’clock just isn’t an option. And then worse I must set an end time. Surely the meeting is best finished when the business is done. Be that ten minutes, or forty-seven minutes and fifteen seconds. Sadly, no, the temptation is to go an hour, or worse two, but in hour-long chunks, and a meeting scheduled for an hour will last an hour. Never mind that it could have been concluded sooner; but who ever goes to a meeting that finishes early.

We are of course our own worst enemies here. We could treat the times as approximate and flexible – but my guess is few of us do. Two o’clock is two o’clock: five past is means you’re late. In this sense we are setting ourselves such goals. For the reasons I feel that goals in general are a bad thing go here. Where my friend Hilary Goldsmith makes an impassioned and well argued denunciation of goals.

Must go – look at the time. I have to be at work by…