When the concept of ‘time’ came up in a meeting at Stylist HQ recently, the reaction was uniform: anxiety, dread, horror – all that jazz. The idea that time is ticking, that we only have 24 hours each day, that we don’t have enough time, that we’re not using our time correctly… whenever we get a reminder of these things, our stomachs drop and a light sweat breaks out on our collective foreheads.

This, it turns out, is not a feeling exclusive to those working at Stylist. Time comes for us all, and with it comes pressure. It doesn’t matter who you are, the fact of time passing is a reality for everyone. None of us can buy or earn more time. We can’t slow it down. Time is, in essence, the great equaliser, and something none of us can escape. And for many of us, it’s bloody stressful.

New research by Stylist, powered by our new insight agency Think Stylist, found that 87% of women are feeling the pressure of time to achieve everything they want in life. This time pressure creeps into all areas, and it’s making us feel like time is working against us – we don’t have enough time to get everything done or we’re moving too slowly or the time to accomplish something is running away from us at high speed. Essentially, we feel like we’re in a battle against time, and we always seem to be losing.

Generation Tick Tock: why Stylist is digging into time pressure