Have you ever heard the saying that if we didn't have deadlines we wouldn't get anything done. I oven wonder at work why my intensity increases only as the deadline for lunch service approaches. Don't get me wrong I have gotten into work some days and tried to run like a crazy man to get things done as quickly as I can, but too often I burn out at some point of the day and much like a long distance runner who goes out too hard I hit the wall at some point (usually when the deadline has passed) and progress grinds almost to a halt. So basically I charge happily with awesome intensity through the morning only to hit the wall at clean up time and then struggle to the finish. Surely if there was any logic to life I should find the energy at the end of the day because the motivation at that point is an earlier departure and with the heading home my time becomes mine. And surely what most if not all of us are striving for is the opportunity to have more time to do as we wish.
Why do I sleep in on the weekend when time is mine but set an alarm an get out of bed on work days? Surely I should be setting alarms on the weekend because there the day is mine to spend on me and for me. But alas the modern world for all its sophistication and talk of work/life balance this is not the case. Not even close. I started typing this 2 days ago and in truth didn't really have a plan, but thought if I just start typing it will come to me. Start it off and see where it takes you.
In the 1800's people worked over 60 hours a week, they also slept or at least were in bed whilst it was dark. So take tomorrow. The sun will rise at 6.12am and set at 7.10pm. That is about 11hours of darkness. Prior to the advent of electricity that meant that most people would have been asleep or at least in bed for 11 hours of the day. 7 x 11 is 77 plus the 60 to 70 hours of work. Lets make that 65 hours. That leaves a mere 26 hours in the week for yourself. Less than 4 hours a day. Are we better off today? Short answer yes. How much better? Most of us claim the 6 to 8 hours sleep a night. 49 hours on average plus working 38 hours. That's 87 hours, giving free hours to do as we please (some of that spent in transit) of 81 hours a week. How are we using those hours? Maybe for some, during Covid they have spent more time around the house getting some projects done. Maybe in normal times nights out with friends and family or just a just a dinner for 2 at a local restaurant. For everyone it is different. How much time is 81 hours a week? That's over 11 hours a day on average even if we do an extra hour at work Monday to Thursday. As I type that I realise that your lunch break at work is not included there either.
That thought set off a mental alert too. That half hour for lunch is still ours to do with at least to some extent as we please. How best to utilise it? If my workmates over the past few years are anything to go on it will be spent staring at a mobile phone whilst eating lunch. Now that mobile phone connects to the world via the internet as we know so we could do any number of things with it. Most likely though we scroll through social media feeds and if asked what we looked up we will be unable to recall within an hour or more. Why don't we use that time to read or do some language study through an app or meditate for 15 minutes? It doesn't have to be dead time.
I guess my point is that it is your time to use as you please. I am a fan of audiobooks and podcasts which I listen to whilst in transit. Yes I consider this to be a reasonable way to spend my hour and a half daily commute but by getting the right podcasts on I could be using the time more wisely. I could be using it to be better informed. Having said that we aren't robots and do need some downtime every day.
I guess the point I am making is that we do have a fair amount of time for ourselves and need to be better at making good use of that time. Balance is important though and no one can work 17 hour days, at least not for an extended period of time. Are we working to live or living to work? The choice is yours to make. Let me just finish off with a quote I heard some years back whilst listening to the Tim Ferris Show and his interview with Wim Hof. Wim has some wild ideas on icebaths and the like. The memorable quote was "easy choices, hard life or hard choices, easy life". Feel free to let that one roll around in your head for a while. It's time I put a fork in this one because it is done. Happy living people!!
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