A Story About the Instant Phenomenon

As a child, one of my favorite Queen songs was “I want it all and I want it now,” which, as the title suggests, means I want everything and I want it immediately—right now, if not yesterday. I can proudly say that one of my biggest personal victories has been overcoming this mindset, even though from time to time I catch glimpses of it trying to sneak back in. My longest struggle with overcoming this mindset was actually with the environment I grew up in, worked in, and still exist in today—an environment that encouraged and continues to support this very attitude. It's so deeply ingrained in our psyche and behavior that we've unconsciously accepted it—even joked about it in everyday speech.

An example from work: A client calls asking for advice, and when asked when they need it by, the answer is often something like: “Well, you know how it is around here… everything's for yesterday!” And everyone laughs it off, but then you’re the one banging your head trying to finish ten projects by the end of the day.

This got me thinking to research who actually started this instant-need trend, and when did "instant" become the new norm?

A little history

• 19th Century: After canned food became widely used during the Napoleonic Wars, the first innovative instant product was instant coffee (patented in 1890).

• Early 20th Century: With mass production and processed food came products like powdered milk, instant pudding, and quick-prep cereals.

• Post-World War II (1950s–1970s): Industrialization and changes in family life (more women entering the workforce) led to an explosion in instant products—instant noodles, microwave meals, and freeze-dried coffee became daily staples.

• Digital Era (1990s–present): With digitalization, the "instant" phenomenon took on a whole new dimension. It no longer applied just to food—it extended to communication (instant messaging), entertainment (streaming services), and finance (instant payments and transfers).

The benefits?

Of course, saving time is a big plus. The original intent of these instant products was likely to improve efficiency, increase convenience, and make daily life easier. And yes, in urgent situations, they help—at least to stop the bleeding until a longer-term solution is found.

But we never really defined what "urgent" means. And when we realized that urgent problems got preferential treatment—suddenly, everything became urgent.

And what did we actually do with all the extra time we saved with our ultra-efficient productivity? We filled it with even more tasks and responsibilities that we “must” finish. Responsibilities at work, at home, with friends, family, institutions. And since wellness practices say we also need to “make time for ourselves,” suddenly we gained obligations for fun, pleasure, and relaxation too.

So instead of using instant products and practicing the instant mindset in emergencies and special incidental circumstances, they became our everyday norm. And instead of gaining more time—we feel increasingly pressured and stressed from the lack of it.

With instant and ultra-processed food loaded with sodium, sugar, and preservatives, we contributed to the mass rise of metabolic disorders. With instant responsibilities and the “have to do it yesterday” mindset, we replaced long healthy walks in nature with 10 minutes on a treadmill like lab rats—or a quick stretch from the desk to the coffee machine and back. And with that, we’re just expanding our list of physical health issues.

But that’s not all. Instant demands brought along instant needs: the need for instant income, instant results, instant pleasure, instant gratification.

And when those needs aren't satisfied instantly, the system experiences a glitch. Frustration, low self-esteem, dissatisfaction, loss of control, fear, anger, sadness, depression. Sound familiar?

What’s the alternative?

When I started working as a tax advisor, a lot of things were unclear to me. The subject matter was vast, the structure for writing advice was completely different from anything I had done before, and to top it off—it was in business English. What I remember is waking up one morning feeling like I suddenly knew it all. I had huge confidence in my knowledge, writing advice came to me like poetry, and I was slaloming between complex topics daily. I remember it as a magical instant when I officially became a consultant.

But in hindsight—that “instant” took a full year of learning, researching, writing, making mistakes, and learning even more according to those mistakes. There was a whole process behind it.

Ask a farmer how much time, effort, and work it takes from planting a seed to getting a natural harvest. There’s a whole process behind it.

Even to create instant coffee—someone had to think, work, fail, and experiment for years to find the right formula. There was a whole process behind it.

Knowing how relative time really is, let’s not allow the illusion of the "instant", fool us into believing everything must happen now, or yesterday. Let’s return to the process. I’m someone who loves processes—because with detail, care, planning, and calculated risks, they guide the growth and development of the respective product. Processes let you discover how, understand why, reveal when, and connect who.

Let’s return to connection. To human touch. To nature.

Slowly, step by step. By replacing unhelpful habits with useful ones. By learning through trial and error. By working and trying—with curiosity and discipline. By accepting discomfort and consciously stepping into and resolving conflict.

Let’s take our time back.