How often do you find yourself saying or thinking the words, “I don’t have time for ____” – the blank being things that you want to do, things you need to do, or things that you used to love doing?
If you don’t say this, you might be one of the lucky ones. I’ve said this sentence before, too many times to count.
We live in an age where technology brings the entire world to our fingertips – not just emails and text messages, but also video streaming, angry birds, tabloids, world news, and 140 character sound bites. It’s all too easy to lose countless minutes to cat videos, articles about random topics, and scrolling through Facebook.
Someone suggested to me that instead of saying “I don’t have time,” I say instead, “It’s not a priority” —
“I don’t have time to work out” became “exercising isn’t a priority.”
“I don’t have time to study” became “learning isn’t a priority.”
“I don’t have time to write” became “my dream to write a novel isn’t a priority.”
We have 168 hours in a week.
It stung when I realized that out of my 168 hours every week, there were hours of time that I idled away doing nothing much at all. I realized how quickly those minutes on Instagram, watching anime, and playing games on my phone added up – time that I could spend doing things that were important to me.
We are in full swing of summer. Some of us have siblings who are home from college, others of us have children who are out of school. The days are longer and we might have vacations or long weekends planned with dear friends and relatives. If we took out Netflix, TV, or Facebook, would that translate into more time with friends and family, or more time doing things that are important to us?
If time is our most precious resource, then our priorities are where we choose to spend those hours. Are you making the most out of your 168 hours?