Brain Food #498
168 hours
Thoughts of the day
Good morning, and happy Monday.
A quick thought for this chilly (in some parts of the world) Monday morning: there are 168 hours in a week.
Time management expert Laura Vanderkam studied how successful people use their time, but also how people, in general, spend their weeks, by asking them to put together weekly time diaries. These revealed that those who felt they had more time in their days were those who chose how to spend their time well:
“We don't build the lives we want by saving time. We build the lives we want, and then time saves itself."
We do indeed have to work, and sleep, but a quick calculation still leaves us with 50 hours to spare, and this is assuming a luxurious 8 hours of sleep per night, and a demanding workweek of more than 12 hours per day. Of course, there will always be errands to run, family responsibilities, and time needed to travel to and from places. But how we choose to spend this seemingly lost time is still up to us; it may not be so lost after all.
If there are some things we don’t do, this should be not because we don’t have time for them, but because they’re not a priority. And remember, sometimes a break to take a walk, or taking some time to sit quietly and watch the city slip into the night, can be time well-spent too.
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