Tale of the Tape: Time vs. Priority

I respect everyone’s time and realize that everyone has different agendas, many responsibilities, and sometimes not enough help to get everything done. However, I also realize that time and priorities are two different things. Sometimes, we say we do not have time to do something. But, we actually should say we have not made something a particular priority. Check…just check this out:

24 (hours in a day) x 7 (days in the week) = 168 hours in a week

168 – 42 (hours of sleep in a week for those that average 6 hrs a night) = 126 hours (remain). We’ll call this “6-R” for the six hours of sleep per night route.

168 – 56 (hours of sleep in a week for those that average 8 hrs a night) = 112 hours (remain). We’ll call this “8-R” for the eight hours of sleep per night route.

6-R: 126 – 7 (avg. hrs. to get ready in a week) = 119 hours remain
8-R: 112 – 7 (same) = 105 hours remain

6-R: 119 – 25 (avg. commute in hours a week. Some areas have a higher average commute.)= 94 hrs. remain
8-R: 105 – 25 (same) = 80 hrs. remain

6-R: 94 – 40 (avg. hours in a work week) = 54 hrs. remain
8-R: 80 – 40 (same) = 40 hrs. remain

6-R: 54 – 7 (avg. hrs/wk to eat and to prepare food) = 47 hrs. remain
8-R: 40 – 7 (same) = 33 hrs. remain

6-R: 47 – 19 (avg. hrs/wk spent watching TV) = 28 hrs. remain
8-R: 33- 19 (same) = 14 hrs. remain

6-R: 28 – 8.89 (avg. # of hours spent on the phone, socializing per week) = 19.11 hrs. remain
8-R: 14 – 8.89 (same) = 5.11 hrs. remain

6-R: 19.11 – 5.83 (avg. hrs per week of religion/church) = 13.28 hrs. remain
8-R: 5.11 – 5.83 (same) = -0.72 hrs. remain (We have lost the 8-hour per night sleepers)

OK, so I left out: time on the Internet, shopping, longer commutes, working overtime, time needed to care for a loved one, time needed to care for kids, and average time playing video games. All of them have an effect. It is also true that some people average less than six hours of sleep per night. Yet, the main issue is that there is still time left during the week to accomplish things that we say we cannot accomplish due to lack of time regardless if we average 6 to 8 hours sleep per night. If we make these things on our agenda a priority, we can perhaps get them done in a timely manner.

For this case, I am of course applying it to working out. I do often hear people say that they are too busy to take care of their bodies physically, mentally, and spiritually. If this is not a problem for you, you may realize that you can adjust your schedule to bring other activities to the forefront.

However, by knocking out some of the superfluous activities (i.e., 14 hrs/wk of TV watching; 13 hrs/wk on the Internet, most of it is not as productive as possible) agendas and goals can be completed. For the quintessential 8-hour sleeper, time is lost if the above schedule is followed. If you find yourself, going overtime with time, then adjustments need to be made in your schedule.

I know there is more to this information.