The way Paul words it is like this:
> Having kids showed me how to convert a continuous quantity, time, into discrete quantities. (...). If Christmas-as-magic lasts from say ages 3 to 10, you only get to watch your child experience it 8 times. And while it's impossible to say what is a lot or a little of a continuous quantity like time, 8 is not a lot of something. (...)
(...)
> When I ask myself what I've found life is too short for, the word that pops into my head is "bullshit." I realize that answer is somewhat tautological. It's almost the definition of bullshit that it's the stuff that life is too short for. And yet bullshit does have a distinctive character. There's something fake about it. It's the junk food of experience.
> If you ask yourself what you spend your time on that's bullshit, you probably already know the answer. Unnecessary meetings, pointless disputes, bureaucracy, posturing, dealing with other people's mistakes, traffic jams, addictive but unrewarding pastimes.
This reflection in general has transformed not only how I look at time, but also how I look at work. I ask myself, is _my work_ bullshit? Is this _task_ bullshit? Is my way of spending _time_ bullshit?