The way we tend to treat time is riddled with irony. When someone wastes our time, we grow furious because it is something we can never get back. However, we’re perfectly content to waste our own time and don’t experience the same reaction. Whether you’re mindlessly scrolling on social media, binge watching an entire Netflix series, or going down a rabbit hole of useless information, you’ve wasted critical time that you can never get back. It is the same time with the same outcome, but a different experience.
Why are some people seemingly always in a rush while others appear like they have no sense of urgency whatsoever? I find it incredibly interesting to analyze how differently people prioritize their time and what they choose to do with it. From my observations, I’ve concluded that those who maximize their time to accomplish specific goals tend to be the most content with life (keep in mind this is a gross generalization and there are certainly outliers). My friends, family, and acquaintances that mindlessly yield their freetime to unproductive activities are repeatedly subjected to “incomprehensible” mental anguish that surfaces as depression, anxiety, and discontentedness.
I believe there is a direct correlation between how individuals manage their time and their general happiness, or lack thereof. Everyone has a fundamental baseline of wants and needs that should be met on a daily basis to maintain a level of happiness. Though they differ from person to person, it seems everyone needs to be understood, to be loved, to be important, to exercise, to sleep, to eat, to drink water, to relax, and to bring something of value to the world. I’m sure I could sprinkle a few more in there, but I think you get the gist.
When these needs aren’t adequately met, we feel off-balance as if something is missing or wrong. Without ruthless introspection and analyzing our own behaviors, we plunge into a sense of chaos and can’t seem to find a solution to this disturbance in the force. Maybe you’re experiencing this to some degree right now. I certainly have in the past. When I feel like I don’t have enough time in the day to address my needs, it feels like my whole world is gripped by disorder and confusion. Beware of the tunnel vision that accompanies this sensation; too many fall victim to the erroneous belief that they’re incapable of devising a remedy. Just because we can’t magically add more time to our day doesn’t mean there isn’t a realistic solution.
Think for a minute. Do you ever wish you had more time in the day? Start by mapping out your schedule and be radically honest with yourself, otherwise you’re wasting more of your own time. I break my day into 30 minute increments from the moment I wake until the moment I prepare to go to sleep. I set aside specific time to take my dog out and feed him, poop, shower, get ready, and prepare for work. I break my entire work day into 18 – 30 minute blocks with specific goals to accomplish by the time I clock out. When I finish work, I have specific tasks to accomplish before spending an hour or more at Jiu Jitsu. I set time to eat, to bathe, spend quality time with my girlfriend, and I’m finally left with a choice at the end of my day. Do I want to relax and unwind, or do I want to fulfill the last of my needs before I go to bed? Occasionally I get to do both… but if I’m being honest, I recognize that my mental health deteriorates when I don’t spend that time expressing myself creatively in the form of writing or minting NFTs.
When I don’t make time to express my ideas, I grow discontented and my creative abilities atrophy. If my artistic ambitions falter, I fear regressing to the average and becoming a normy. Don’t get me wrong, it’s okay to take necessary time to decompress. However if you make a habit out of it, you’re damned to mediocrity and it will be your own fault. Start small, but here’s the secret formula to a more accomplished life:
(TIME + CONSISTENCY + CALCULATED EFFORT) – (BULLSHIT + DISTRACTIONS)
Here’s a real world example: Henry wants to become a better music producer. He has a general understanding of how to make beats, but his abilities have stagnated. Henry decides he wants to do something about it, so he takes an inventory of his day to see where he can find more time to dedicate to his music.
- 9 hours of sleep
- 8 hours of work
- 1 hour of grooming (morning and night)
- 1.5 hours eating (breakfast, lunch, and dinner)
- 1 hour at the gym
- 2 hours scrolling on TikTok and Instagram
- 1.5 hours decompressing watching Netflix
After taking a look at how much time he spends mindlessly scrolling on his phone and consuming other forms of media, he realizes he has 3.5 hours of time that could be dedicated to bettering his musical craft. Henry decides to keep a majority of his schedule since it fulfills most of his needs and he has bills to pay, so he opts to replace just one hour of his time on social media with producing music.
The result is small at first. In the first week of implementing this strategy, Henry only logged 7 hours toward refining his music. After one month of consistently following this new schedule, he logged 30 hours. After one year, he had logged 365 hours producing his music. 365 hours is equivalent to more than 15 days; Henry spent over two weeks purely focused on producing new sounds because he concentrated one hour of effort each day. He built up his skills over time because he was consistent and limited his distractions. If he had gotten obsessed and narrowed his media consumption time to only 30 minutes per day so he could spend 3 hours on his music, Henry would’ve logged just short of 1100 hours. That’s a month and a half of time and energy spent on doing something he loves and mastering a new skill.
If there is anything to take away from this rambling, I ask that you carefully pay attention to how you utilize your time and do something about it. Make a plan, set specific goals, dedicate a consistent amount of time toward accomplishing those goals, and be disciplined. You’ll be amazed at how far you get in just one year.
Read my mind. 