What Are You Doing With Your Time?
March 23, 2022 - Shauna Jurczak
You’ve heard it before – people blaming “time” for things. You may even be guilty for it. I know I've been guilty of saying “I don’t have time” and “I need more time”. There’s also the ever so special “Time is precious”.
I don’t believe any of those statements are wrong. There are only 24-hours in a day. In that 24-hours, you have to fit in sleeping, eating, working, exercising, loving, resting and more. No, as people we don’t always have a lot of time, we all want more time, and when time flies as fast as it does, it becomes clear that time is precious.
The truth is, you can’t get more time, but you can maximize the time you have. I bet you’ve all heard this one, too: “Time is money”. When I used to hear that, I thought it referred to the monetary value of the time you spent doing things (your dollar worth, so to say), and it does, but it also connects to how you treat your time.
Think about it. If time were actually money, how would you manage it? Would you budget for it? Save some? Spend big on the important things? Hit up the dollar store for other things? The truth is, if you looked at time the way you look at money, you’d have a very different perspective on how you’re spending your time, budgeting your time, and throwing away your time. After all, if you had $50 dollars in your pocket, you wouldn't just toss it in the trash. Yet, it seems so easy to toss aside a wasted 5 hours and chalk it up to needing more time.
Whatever type of monetary budget you manage, be it for your household, your business, or your department at work, most adults do some sort of financial budgeting. Examining where the dollars and cents are going each month, for some down to the penny, budgeting money seems like an obvious adult thing to do.
Now my question is: do you also budget your time?
If you find yourself craving more time, or find your need for time is stressing you out, it's probably time to set up or re-examine your time budget. Here are some tips to help you start working out your own time budget:
Determine what activities currently take up your time daily, weekly, and monthly. This includes sleeping, eating, relaxing, commuting, you name it.
Prioritize those activities – you may even find that some of them are wasting your time (hello Facebook scroll hole, I’m talking to you!)
Determine what you want to spend your time on – think about those things you tell yourself you’d do if you just had the time.
Looking at your priorities, needs, and wants, add a time value to it. Just like a regular budget may have $500 allotted for groceries, you can do the same for your time. Think 1-hour for the gym, 8-hours for sleep etc.
From here you can start to create your daily, weekly, and monthly schedule based on your time budget. Remember, just like you have a buffer in your financial budget, you should also leave yourself a buffer in your time budget.
There are 24-hours in a day. Which equates to 168 hours in a week, 730 hours in a month, and 8760 hours in a year. If you had $8760 handed to you, you’d know how you need/want to save or spend it. Managing your time like you manage your money will help you free up your time, help you maximize your time, help you use your time more wisely, and in turn, give you the time you crave to live the life you want.
Looking for more than a couple tips on balancing your time (or your money)? Book some time with me so I can help you create the best budget for your most successful life.