I think this explains why I feel itchy when I read “lifehacking” tips.

Yes, I can cook dinner while listening to music and running the laundry machine. It’s just common sense that I can multi-task in certain ways and that not to do so would leave me unnecessarily idle.

But there are certain tasks that can’t be optimized or automated — or, rather, to do so is to miss the point of the activity in the first place. Suppose I want to invite the public to contact and interact with me. If I shorten the interactions, make them generic or shallow, or hire a person or robot to handle them for me, I’ve likely forgotten the original reason why I wanted to have those interactions.

There is a limit on what we can do with the time that we have. The people who seem to be “doing” more (exchanging more business cards, scheduling more meetings, driving more miles, speaking more words, getting more page views, selling more product) are not necessarily “being” more.