Time is the issue.

I feel like I've returned from the future. On the flight back from Tokyo to Montreal, I'm reclaiming the 13 hours stolen by the time difference on the way there. The moment I sank into my seat and fastened my seatbelt, I plunged deeper and deeper into my thoughts. When I have time to spare, I'm exceptionally good at getting lost in thought. I began to think. About "time."

Time is believed to be a universal unit. Is that really true? Everywhere in the world, one second is one second, one minute is one minute. That's what the International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service (IERS) decided. No joke. This organization actually exists (if you're interested, search for the abbreviation "IERS").

If time is universal, why does its passage feel so different when I'm working at an ad agency versus reading a book in the back seat of a library? In one place, time feels scarce and stressful. In the other, it feels abundant and serene. Why?

Sometimes I think every profession operates by its own clock hand. Advertising is undoubtedly the foremost profession driven by the second hand. Not just the second hand, but the hundredth-of-a-second hand. If such a hand even existed in this world.

The sound of a stroboscope chops time into fragments.

Click-clack-click, 30 seconds, no, 15 seconds, click-clack-click, hurry, hurry, hurry even without reason, click-clack-click, time is limited, hurry, hurry, click-clack-click...

Everyone feels pain in their hearts. The pressure of time constantly pushes us to the brink of panic. That time and we are at odds is clear from the very term "deadline" – a line of death.

But we work in the creative realm. Shouldn't we pursue a state where creativity overflows from the wellspring and flows freely? We should know that place. The place we reach when, immersed in our work, we escape the prison bound by time's chains. Only there does creativity truly activate and shine. Descend deep into the right brain, aiming for that wellspring. Rules and laws no longer exist. To a place where the "International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service" should not exist (By the way, does that organization only hire people who worry about closing time?).

I have one piece of advice for readers: When you get the chance to fly for 12 hours, never start thinking about time. Doing so will only make things worse. You'll lose all the time you worked so hard to reclaim, just like I did, lost in delusion.

(Supervised by: Dentsu Inc. Global Business Center)