2020-09-02 Time to Read

24 hours. That’s how much time we all have, each day. Some of us use it well, some of us don’t. How well you use your allotted time is a big aspect in determining your quality of life.

A common complaint is that we just don’t have enough time to do all the things that we’d like to. I’m not so sure that’s the case. Let’s breakdown those 24 hours and take a closer look.

Sleeping roughly equates to 8 hours a day for most of us. This is something we can reduce, but shouldn’t for health reasons. Thus. our 24 hours shrink to 16. Most jobs, certainly ones in an office operate on a 9 to 5, or 8 hour day. That brings our free time down to 8 hours.

That’s 8 hours, every day, that you can use, however you wish. Whatever way you look at it, that’s a lot of time! I know that some of this time will be spent doing activities that contribute to the other two, such as driving to and from work, preparing meals and cleaning up before bed.

Even if we account for these activities, that should still leave approximately 5 or 6 hours of free time. Much like Orwell realised he was spending more on cigarettes than on books, this simple breakdown reveals that we have more time than we think we do.

The issue then becomes one not of time itself, but how we utilise that time. If reading more books is your aim, then you’ll want to devote more of your time to reading.

It’s not a question of finding the time, we all have the same amount of time, it’s a question of allocating that time to further your goals.