"Time is a resource whose supply is inversely proportional to its demand"
About this Quote
Time, in Craig Bruce's formulation, behaves less like a neutral backdrop and more like a rigged commodity market. "Supply is inversely proportional to its demand" borrows the cool authority of economics to indict a familiar psychological scam: the more you need time, the less of it you seem to have. It's a line engineered to sting because it flatters no one. If you're overwhelmed, it implies, you're not just unlucky; you're participating in a feedback loop that makes scarcity feel natural.
The intent is pragmatic cynicism. Bruce isn't romanticizing busyness as ambition or moral worth. He's pointing at the perverse mechanics of modern work and responsibility, where urgency manufactures more urgency. Demand doesn't simply reveal scarcity; it creates it. That is the subtext: time is not managed so much as fought over, and the fight itself burns the very thing you're trying to conserve. Deadlines compress perception. Attention fragments. Every new obligation becomes proof that you were right to worry, which makes you act in ways that confirm the shortage.
Contextually, it lands in a late-20th-century worldview shaped by productivity culture, corporate tempo, and the creeping sense that life is administered through queues, calendars, and notifications. Framing time as a "resource" is already a concession to an era that monetizes experience. The bitter twist is that the metric isn't hours on the clock but mental bandwidth. The quote works because it captures how scarcity migrates from schedule to psyche: when demand rises, your sense of available time collapses, and the clock becomes another boss.
The intent is pragmatic cynicism. Bruce isn't romanticizing busyness as ambition or moral worth. He's pointing at the perverse mechanics of modern work and responsibility, where urgency manufactures more urgency. Demand doesn't simply reveal scarcity; it creates it. That is the subtext: time is not managed so much as fought over, and the fight itself burns the very thing you're trying to conserve. Deadlines compress perception. Attention fragments. Every new obligation becomes proof that you were right to worry, which makes you act in ways that confirm the shortage.
Contextually, it lands in a late-20th-century worldview shaped by productivity culture, corporate tempo, and the creeping sense that life is administered through queues, calendars, and notifications. Framing time as a "resource" is already a concession to an era that monetizes experience. The bitter twist is that the metric isn't hours on the clock but mental bandwidth. The quote works because it captures how scarcity migrates from schedule to psyche: when demand rises, your sense of available time collapses, and the clock becomes another boss.
Quote Details
| Topic | Time |
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