168 hours that is what you are given each week. Are you using each hour wisely? Time is the most precious commodity we have. Information can be distributed. Knowledge shared. But once a year passes you by, you can’t buy it back.
Teenagers often think they have endless time. As we get older we see time pass all too quickly. I think that’s why we have countless phrases based on time – time is money, out of time, pressed for time, hard time, borrowed time, and make up for lost time. Most of us manage our money very closely, but do we think of each hour in a week as an account we have to manage as well?
No matter what your age how you use your 168 each week is your choice. How much do you waste? What do you consider wasting time? Did you know that American’s spend an average of 2.8 hours a day watching T.V.1 60 percent of teens spend an average of 20 hours per week in front of TV and computer screens, while 30 percent of teens spend closer to 40 hours per week on ‘screen’ time2. Even assuming some of this is for homework, this is a lot of screen time.
I challenge each of you to find just 4 hours a week of time that you could use more wisely. Can you? Do you have time between your classes? Or in the evenings? There are certainly hours that we all have committed – sleeping, commuting, classes, work, etc. When I really looked at every hour of my week in a detailed and deliberate way I realized there were many hours I was wasting – for example watching TV or surfing the internet. I realized that there were many hours each week that weren’t planned, which for me became the time I was wasting.
If you take my challenge and can find time to do what I call The Big Idea – imagine what you can accomplish? In one year this is 208 hours. That’s over 5 solid working weeks to work on your Big Idea. In 10 years this is over 2,000 hours. That’s about as much as a lawyer needs to rack up in billable hours for a year. What can you accomplish in one year? A lot. This very simple formula is how I wrote my first novel, “Lindsey: Love and Intrigue” while working and raising my three busy kids.
“I find television very educating. Every time somebody turns on the set,
I go into the other room and read a book.”
Groucho Marx
Julius Henry “Groucho” Marx was an American comedian and film and television star. He is known as a master of quick wit and widely considered one of the best comedians of the modern era.3
October 2, 1890 – Aug 19, 1977
1According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics
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