It’s Your Time

Most people want to do a better job of managing their time. We all want to feel wise and productive, but few of us can honestly say our hours are spent both wisely and with purposeful intent. In fact most of us intuitively know we waste plenty of time each day; but lacking any data, lacking any facts or sense of urgency, we rationalize and minimize and drift along on the currents of habit.

Most of us need a breakthrough. We need to look squarely at the problem, break it down to specific data and facts, and supply ourselves with enough reason and emotion to actually change.

For example: What has a lack of time-management skills cost you so far in your life? Do you have a specific dollar-amount answer to that question? If you’re making $16 per hour, or $33,000 per year, then 15 minutes of your time is worth about $4. That makes each and every 15 minute interval in your life equal to double-tall latte or a gallon of gas!

So choosing to spend an hour in the coffee shop, every day, including weekends, for one full year is worth $5840 of your time. With this amount of cash you could spend a month in Europe or you purchase a two year old Toyota Corolla! (Happily for the characters in Seinfeld, their coffee-shop-hours resulted in a long-running “show about nothing.”)

The point is to become aware of the value of your time and how you spend it. Say you find yourself watching TV for half an hour. Seems innocent enough, right? But in reality, you’ve just now spent $8 of your valuable time. Maybe it was a really, really good show, the season finale of American Idol or something, and maybe you’re very happy with your purchase! But now you can begin to connect the expenditure of your time with trade-offs against your goals and dreams of a better career, better fitness and weight loss, and more long-term financial success, etc.

Assigning a monetary value to our time, in 15 minute intervals, makes us aware and possibly less willing to waste time watching (another) late-night Seinfeld rerun – especially when we could be sleeping or exercising or reading the next chapter ahead in our Macro-Economics class.

According to Eurodata TV Worldwide, the average ballpark-American spends over four (4) hours per day glued to the television. This may seem incredible, and perhaps the word “glued” is a bit strong, but still, can this be possible? Do we really spend one-fourth of our waking hours in front of a TV? Apparently it is true and, in fact, we’re not even in first place anymore. Japan now heads the pack and enjoys a five (5) minute lead over the USA in the race to the couch-potato finish line. (Japan is four hours, 29 minutes; USA is four hours, 25 minutes.)

Awareness begins the process of change. Pay very close attention to the time you spend. Keep a journal / log in 15 minute intervals for one full day. Repeat the exercise again in one week. Compare the actual results with your expectations. The answers are all within you!