This past February I went to Ghana to work with their emergency management agency and one of their higher education institutions to begin planning for what will ultimately lead to the first emergency management degree program in the country. It was a phenomenal experience. I’ll share all the details another time though as today I just want to hit on one thing that I absolutely loved about Ghana (in addition to the people, pineapple and the plantain chips) – I loved their sense of time.

Ghanaians operate on what I call “ish” time. “Ish” time is largely unused in the U.S. as folks here are often too tightly booked (and also too tightly wound) to use it. “Ish” time is that ten to fifteen minutes around a meeting time. For example, on “ish” time you would arrive at perhaps 11:15 AM for an 11 AM meeting (actually anytime between 11 and 11:15 would be fine, but the point is everyone is fine whether it is one minute after the hour or fifteen). In Ghana, the “ish” time is even more fluid and extends to a 20 to 30 minute window. The Ghanaians are not controlled by their schedules, when they get there they get there; and, amazingly things still get done and life goes on – no worries and very little stress.

But don’t bother talking about “ish” time to your Ghanaian friends. They wouldn’t recognize the term and even the concept will be lost as it merely is the way Ghanaians deal with time. I have come to believe that I am at least half Ghanaian…I think my parents kept this information from me, but you know how you just intuitively know something, well I know I must be at least half Ghanaian. It is wonderful that I had a chance to go to Ghana or I might have always wondered why I was so different from my family, friends and colleagues. In Ghana, I finally felt at home and I understood why I have always been so comfortable with the concept of “ish” time, despite being surrounded by folks who thrive on real time.

Back in the states my “ish” time is not so well embraced. I have tried to start an “ish” time movement. For awhile there I set all my meetings at “ish” time (e.g., 9-ish). It just never caught on. Folks would either roll in right on time or early – they never went into the “ish”.

After that failed experiment I tried responding to all folks queries about when I would arrive or when I was leaving with “ish” time. At that time I added the hand movement – the one where you stick out your hand (palm down) and twist it back and forth at the wrist (I thought a visual might help cement the concept). A few people started using the term, but still kept living in real time…uggh, it was so frustrating. Clearly, I did not have the charisma to sell it.

I have been on “ish” time much of the summer, but increasingly the pressure has been on me to operate on ish”the time framework that everyone else is on (at least all the folks here in the U.S.). So today is the day. It is something akin to daylight savings time. Today is the official shift from “ish” time to real time. It makes me feel like I am ignoring my Ghanaian heritage but it must be done if I want to “fit in”.

I am reminded of an old Chicago song’s lyrics – “Does anybody really know what time it is? Does anybody really care?”…and the Rolling Stones song “Time is on my side”…and the Hall and Oates classic that lamented, “You’re out of touch, I’m out of time”…and can’t forget about Jim Croce’s “Time in a bottle”…oh my, this is like a bad breakup where all you can do is think about the one thing you have lost – ARRGGH!

Alright, I am just going to have to put on my big girl panties and deal with it. So fine… let the meetings begin and I’ll try not to be early.

Day thirty-eight “ish” of the new forty – obla di obla da

CC