Making Time: A New Vision for Crafting a Life Beyond Productivity
Maria Bowler
Baker Books, 224 pages
Published January 21, 2025
First, authors told us how to manage our time. Then, other authors suggested that we eschew time management as another way capitalism seeks to profit both from our work and our wants. While I’ve gleaned wisdom from books of both kinds, when I finish reading, I immediately notice the accumulated breakfast dishes and overflowing e-mail box — and the pressure resurfaces. The sheer volume of books written to guide us away from time pressures and toward purposeful lives makes clear that there is no silver bullet.
Maria Bowler speaks to this conundrum with compassion and insight; she invites readers to “evaluate your time and effort creatively, not productively. The “producing” approach to time management suggests that if we re-adjust and re-order the moving parts of our daily life, we will be able to accomplish more, leading to greater satisfaction. But satisfaction proves elusive, as there is always something more to do. Bowler believes “(w)hen there is loving attention to how the process of life unfolds, the human heart yearns to join in.” In Making Time, creative action is presented as an alternative to productivity-bound action.
This is a fresh take on the “doing vs. being” dichotomy. It can be life-giving to remember that it’s okay to simply “be” rather than to always “do,” yet within the bustle of work and family life, the insistence to set aside time to “be” can feel equally tyrannical. “To really rest, you need to give up the imperative to be good at resting,” Bowler writes. “You can’t will yourself into relaxation, you can only soften into it and give yourself more and more permission for it. Think of it as being restored, not restoring yourself.”
It’s this approach that allows Making Time to stand out in a crowded field. When we ask, “How am I being?” we become curious. Creative. Unashamed. Less pressured. Able to sit in silence. Experience boredom. Only then do we see ourselves as “makers,” eager to join in the “holy and practical play” of creating, collaborating, and connecting with others. In Bowler’s economy, creating begats creating —“ideas don’t run out. When you use one, three more appear.”
Making Time isn’t a self-help guide, and it certainly isn’t the (non-existent) silver bullet. It is, however, a life-giving companion for the new year, one that invites us to see ourselves as creatives, eager to trust the greatest creative process: life.
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