Last week we discussed 5 tips to improve how you practice. Today we are going to discuss the most frequently used excuse out there. Today, I plan on showing why this is the lamest excuse to give:
“I didn’t have the time!”
What time is it?
Arnold Bennett wrote a book back in 1910 called “How to Live on 24 Hours a Day” (You can find a copy at Project Gutenberg – Click Here). In this book, he goes about showing how much time is actually wasted in our day-to-day lives that that if indeed we wanted to do something, we could.
The bit that convinced me involves a little bit of maths:
There are 168 hours in a week.
The average person sleeps 8 hours a day. So in a week they would sleep 56 hours. This leaves 112 hours.
The average person eats 3 meals a day. Assuming that we allow 1 hour for each meal this would mean that 21 hours are taken up eating. This leaves 91 hours.
The average adult works 8 hours per day for 5 days a week (Your lunch break is accounted for under “meals”). Taking these 40 hours away we still have 51 hours remaining.
According to the Central Statistics Office (Ireland) the average commute to work is just under 30 minutes. Assuming it takes the same time coming back that is 1 hour per day. So 5 hours from 51 hours leaves 46 hours.
Is this the best use of my time?
This means we have 46 hours remaining in the week to call spare time. That is a full time job, with lunch breaks and an hour to spare!
The big question to ask yourself now is,
“What are you doing with those 46 hours?”
Why don’t we take a look?
According to The Irish Times we spend just under 3.5 hours a day watching TV. That’s 25.5 hours per week.
According to this article on breakingnews.ie the average time spent on Social Media is 13 hours per week.
That’s 38.5 hours a week spent on Social Media or watching TV! This is why your teacher, boss, co-workers, friends etc. etc. etc. let out a loud sigh when they hear you say,
“I didn’t have the time!”
We spend 25.5 hours watching TV per week
Instead of using their spare time productively the average person wastes it. So when you pick up your TV remote or unlock your phone, ask yourself:
“Is this the best use of my time?”
Obviously these figures are based entirely on averages and we cannot deny that sometimes life happens and we genuinely run out of time. However, no one can deny that an awful lot of our time is wasted. If you are one of those people who has successfully managed to spend every moment of their lives productively and without wasting any time, please contact me immediately; I’d love to know the secret to your success!