A day’s got 24 hours. There are no doubts about that. But how many hours do we really have for ourselves? The answer is (un)suprisingly not many. To illustrate the point, let’s analyze a normal day of an average person:
An average adult sleeps 7 to 11 hours per night – let’s count it 8 hours.
The same person has 3 meals a day with several snacks in between, which takes up approximately 3 hours.
What’s more, they generally spends at least 30 minutes or so on the toilet per day.
Most of all, they devote 8 hours a day to their works, together with about 30-minute travelling times.
All right, let’s do a simple calculation. We have, people spend, all in all, around 20 hours a day just for their necessary and [working] activities. In this case, I am already generous in calculating the occupied time. In many cases, people spend more than 8 hours just lying on their beds, which I also do sometimes. The travelling and personal hygiene times may likewise take more times than those stated. At the end of the day, they have only got twenty FOUR hours to do what they like in a normal (working) day! So, what do people actually do daily?
Waking up after a long sleep, many people do think that a new fresh day has just started and unconsciously ignore the fact they have just lost nearly 1/3 of their day’s time. After doing some personal sutff, they then go to work and only return home after 8-hour working when the dusk is falling.
So, unless we can spend all the meals at our working tables, unless we can reduce the time spent on the toilet to zero, unless we can sleep 5 hours a day – which, if possible, are not good for us in the long term at all, and unless we work for ourselves – our interests, we spend 20 hours per day for something that’s totally out of our businesses. What we have left for ourselves are just… four – 4 hours only! What can we do with these limited 4 hours? Not so much. And for those whose 4-hour lasts from 7 to 11 or 8 – 12 pm, it’s even worse! I usually call that period as “dead hours” – the hours that cannot be well spent. Which and how many classes, restaurants and malls are open till that time to serve you? Obviously, apart from work, we still have at least our family, love and probably kids to worry about. So, the big question is can we cut down those 20 so-called ‘neccessary hours’? Luckily, the answer is “Yes, of course!” With a good time management, we can reduce those “neccessary hours” to minimum. Ultimately, if we can utilise 8-hour working to do what we want to do, we will save a lot of time for ourselves.
Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking, and don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it.” – Steve Jobs
In short, I don’t mean to worry you, but life is short and time is limited, so spend it wisely!