August 29, 2010
Time is at the heart of everything. If someone asks you “What’s new?” and it’s possible to tell them you may not be doing enough with your life. Maybe it’s time to take inventory of how you spend your time. I often find my to-do list considerably heavier than the weight of hours I have to invest against it. And I think I get stuck or end up doing less valuable things because I think too much about a variety of things on the list that exist with varying time requirements – some take minutes, others take months; some are needed now, others in years.
Every day we have 24 hours in front of us, every week 168. When was the last time you thought about how your typical day or week goes, where the time goes? As a researcher, I most enjoy studying the use of time. I find it fascinating how important time is but how unconscious we are to how we use it. Can you imagine taking a job without knowing how much you would be paid? We certainly focus on where our money comes from and where it goes, but give little thought to our time.
From my research, the typical American believes they have between 2-3 hours a day of uncommitted time or “free time.” In reality, when you analyze how they actually spent their time, the average is closer to six hours a day or 42 hours a week – the same amount of time associated with a full time job. That means we are losing track of about four hours a day. There is nothing wrong with that.
I just want to suggest time is your greatest asset. But getting a handle on how you are spending it you will gain great insight on your priorities. It doesn’t matter how you think you spend your time or what you say you do with your time. How you actually spend your time tells you what is important.
Feeling stuck? Take inventory. Start a spreadsheet or make a list of hours in the day. Break it into 15 minute intervals. Include all 24 hours – some people are stunned with what they do in the middle of the night. Then commit to write down the dominant activity of every 15 minute period. One day will be insightful. For some, after a few days they have learned enough to see patterns in time they didn’t expect, for others it takes a week or more. But I assure you, you WILL be surprised and it will be worth the time invested to do it.
What does this have to do with community? The biggest reason we have for not doing things is “I don’t have time.” Well, guess what, you do.