In the past, I have been hard on myself for not getting enough done in a day, or for procrastination on a project (like how little I have been posting on this blog, for example).  So I decided to sit down and look at how I managed my time, really look at it, and I was pretty shocked by what I found.

Half of your life is spent on maintenance of the human body.  HALF.

You may think you have 24 hours in a day, but if you are living a healthy lifestyle and taking care of yourself so that you live longer, you probably only have 12 hours of useful time.

Every doctor in America will tell you that you need 8 hours of sleep (although I did just read a study that suggested that middle-aged and elderly people do best on 7 hours, but I’m sure that information will take a decade to make its way to the mainstream of consciousness).  Sleep is maintenance, and not a productive time (unless of course, you listen to a subliminal while you sleep, as I do, but that is a completely different topic).

It’s easy to spend another three or four hours putting foods and liquids into your body, and getting rid of these foods and liquids, washing the body, grooming, shaving, brushing and applying makeup, etc.  Then there is all the time you spend taking your body in for treatments at doctors, dentists, chiropractors, etc.   Let’s not forget the time we spend exercising our body, jogging, lifting weights, bicycling, or even doing Yoga.

That’s half of your life, just keeping your body in good (or at least decent) running order.

With 12 hours of the 24 gone…  spent on maintenance, there is a good chance that you spend 8 of your remaining 12 hours at a job.  Most people don’t work a job because they want to, but rather because they have to, just to be able to afford to take care of their bodies.

That leaves you with four (4) hours, and some of that will be spent driving to and from the job and the various body maintence locations.

So try not to be too hard on yourself for not getting more done.  There’s a good chance that you only have four hours of freedom in a given “workday”.  Four hours to get everything you want out of life done.

Sure, after all the time you’ve spent on maintenance and exchanging your time for money, you probably want to relax and take a moment for yourself.  That, like driving, comes from that four hours.  Spending time with friends and family is important, and that comes in those four-hour windows as well.

Once I realized how little time I had to myself on a weekday, it became obvious to me that I need to prioritize the things I find the most important, and focus on those, rather than making a huge list of things that I never completed and then felt a twinge of guilt each night knowing that the list was longer at the end of the day than it was at the beginning.

Knowing that you spend so much of your life exchanging your time for money, you may find it a worthy goal, as I have, to concentrate your efforts on finding something you can do for money that brings you joy.  If you love what you do, you never had to work a day in your life.

Best Wishes to you on your journey.  My hope is that you are kind to yourself as you grow.

– – – – – – – – Please note – – – – – –

The distorted clock shown is a Salvador Dali inspired melting table clock that you can pick up on Amazon for less than $20 (today) using this link.