Moving from urgency and importance to contribution and passion
We tend to treat time as a spreadsheet entry: something to be managed, sliced or optimised. We measure it in hours and minutes, plan it into calendars and talk about it as if it were entirely factual. Yet in truth, time is deeply emotional. It expands and contracts with our attention, energy and sense of purpose.
When people say, “I don’t have time,” what they often mean is, “I don’t feel connected to where my time is going.” And that’s where the concept of time agility begins, evolving from understanding what it means rather than counting minutes.
Seeing time as elastic
In my coaching sessions, I walk clients through a simple exercise:
A week has 168 hours. When you subtract time spent sleeping, working, commuting and handling life’s logistics, you generally end up with somewhere between 15 and 22 hours unaccounted for. Those hours are invisible, dispersed in scrolling, overthinking, multitasking or simply reacting.
The goal is to see those hours, instead of filling them with more activity. To notice where attention flows and whether that flow creates energy or drains it.
Neuroscience shows that our perception of time is shaped by emotion and reward. When we engage in something that aligns with our values, dopamine (reward chemical) and oxytocin (bonding hormone) activate, making time feel light and expansive. When our actions conflict with those values, cortisol (stress hormone) takes the lead, narrowing focus and compressing experience.
Time, in other words, is a feeling.
From urgency to contribution
Many of us spend our days balancing what is urgent and what is simply important. That framework, useful in its own way, keeps the focus on tasks. But for sustainable performance, there is another axis worth exploring: contribution and passion.
Contribution looks at the value created: the positive impact your time generates for others or for a larger goal.
Passion, on the other hand, represents alignment: the emotional connection that fuels energy and creativity.
When both are present, time flows differently. You leave a meeting feeling fulfilled rather than depleted. You end a long week with satisfaction rather than fatigue.
Urgency is still there, but it has its own rightful place. Time agility empowers leaders to notice which moments deserve presence, which require speed, and which invite rest.
The hummingbird effect
Think of a hummingbird hovering mid-air. Its wings beat up to 80 times per second, yet from afar, it seems almost unhurried and weightless. The secret’s in the rhythm.
Every tiny movement works with the next, and even at full speed, it somehow looks calm and effortless.
Time agility works in much the same way. Instead of slowing down or speeding up, you find a rhythm to move through your day with awareness rather than acceleration.
And when your mind lines up with what you’re doing, time evens out. The rush turns into momentum, and that momentum starts to feel like flow.
This shift is particularly crucial for leaders. When you’re time-agile, teams sense it, which actualises in calmer meetings, grounded decisions and open communication, even in high-pressure environments.
How to practise time agility
Make the following small shifts to strengthen neural flexibility and retrain your brain to link time with intention rather than urgency:
1. Audit with empathy: Track your week without judgement. Notice when you feel energised or heavy, present or distracted.
2. Identify your 15-22 hours: Recognise those open spaces as opportunities for regeneration, connection or creation.
3. Redefine productivity: Replace the question “What did I finish?” with “What did I contribute?”
4. Anchor passion to purpose: Choose one meaningful activity - personal or professional - and protect it like any critical meeting.
5. Build micro-pauses: Between tasks, take a brief breath or reset. This trains your brain to switch states consciously instead of reacting automatically.
Using Amy Jen Su’s Purpose Quadrantto strengthen time agility
Another way to build time agility is to look at your time through two lenses: passion (how energising something feels) and contribution (how much value it creates).
Here’s how it works:
- Quadrant 1: Prioritise the work that energises you and delivers high value. This is where you do your best thinking, make your strongest contribution and feel most aligned with your purpose.
- Quadrant 2: Tolerate the necessary work that supports long-term goals, even if it doesn’t excite you. These tasks keep things moving and often act as stepping stones for bigger outcomes.
- Quadrant 3: Elevate the work you enjoy that isn’t yet recognised as high- value. This quadrant is an invitation to advocate for your strengths, redesign responsibilities or take on new challenges.
- Quadrant 4: Eliminate the low-value, low-energy work that drains you. These are the tasks to hand over, automate, outsource or streamline so your energy isn’t spent where it doesn’t need to be.
Plotting your tasks across these four spaces gives you a clearer picture of where your time goes, where your energy grows or fades and where a few shifts could create more meaningful, intentional hours.
When time finds its pulse
Time agility is about cultivating leadership with work, others and yourself. The goal is to live inside time rather than chasing it. Once that awareness develops, hours begin to hold contribution, learning, creativity and connection, which are all things that make time feel alive.
And when time feels alive, it stretches. Not because the day grows longer, but because you do.
About the author
I’m Dorothée Oung, Executive Coach and Neuroleadership Expert. I work with senior leaders and executive teams to apply neuroscience in practical, results-driven ways.
My goal is to guide emerging and established Neuroleaders through deliberate, evidence-based practices that elevate how they lead, think and show up in the world.
