You say your day is already full to overflowing. How?
People tend to value money over time, until time is almost up. Always rushing from one thing to another with the mantra "time is money", and yet, constantly searching for more time and complain about working too hard or not having enough time to do exercise, read or do things we want. Well, that seems to be changing, with the need for more free time, the working world is responding with flexible or part-time working arrangements.
Arnold Bennett wrote a great book published in 1910 called How to Live on 24 Hours a Day. Despite being written so long ago, it’s just as relevant now than ever. How can we make the best use of our lives? How can we make the best use of our time? These are questions we all want answers to and his answers are well worth reading.
“We shall never have more time. We have, and have always had, all the time there is.”
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One of the many gems Bennett shares which I do regularly, is his accounting of how we spend our 24 hrs.
“You say your day is already full to overflowing. How? You actually spend in earning your livelihood – how much? Seven hours on the average. And in sleep, seven? I will add another two to be generous. And I will defy you to account for me the other 8 hours on the spur of the moment.”
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My day starts at 6am, and 3 days per week I leave the house at 7.15am and drop my kids off at school, I am in work by 8.30am. I spend my 30mins commute from school to office listening to a podcast or an audiobook. The other 2 mornings of the working week I go to CrossFit or yoga.
I plan my working day extensively the night before, it takes me 15mins so I don’t waste time. I reply promptly to important emails so I don’t have a back log in the morning. I try to arrange my meetings early morning, lunchtime or after 4pm, so I can concentrate on creative tasks and other productive activities in between. When I’m in my zone I don’t take personal calls, and I know I can’t concentrate for more than 1.5hrs – 2hrs at a time so I schedule my breaks.
I’m always working on making the best use of my time. Every day we get another 24hrs in the bag, use them wisely.
One of the most important activities scheduled in my diary is exercise. I try and make sure I do around 4 hours per week at least, not including walking between meetings. I’m home by 7pm – 8pm Monday – Thursday and make dinner with my wife. Friday I always get home 1 hour earlier to bath and put my kids to bed. Podcast or audiobook on the commute home. The weekend is family and friends time. Things are scheduled, including time to do nothing and spontaneous activities.
So let’s say we all have 6-8hrs per day un-accounted for, how do you spend it? Scrolling through social media, watching TV or something more productive? Are you even conscious about spending your time wisely?
The one equitable thing in life is that we all have 24hrs in a day. What we choose to do with the time we’re given defines our life. With artificial intelligence and the ability to upgrade and enhance our physical and mental attributes only a few years away, maybe this might change, but for May 2019 we’ll go with it.
Lewis Maleh, Founder
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