Many of us spend longer in the office than what our contracts state. Over time these hours add up to something a lot larger than the extra hour here and there. When we say we don’t have time outside of work the likelyhood is that we do. It’s just that we’re spending our time unwisely.
Every hour adds up
Yesterday I went through my timesheets for the last 5 weeks. At the same time I counted the number of extra hours I’ve worked during those weeks and by extra I mean additional to the 40 hour work week. It came up to 70 hours. That’s despite being out of the office for four days when I was on holiday a week and a bit ago. Effectively, taking those four days away, that means that in just over 4 weeks worth of working days I’ve worked almost an additional two working weeks outside of the normal office hours. Two working weeks. It sounds like a lot when you say it like that. And it is. But it’s not extreme. If you break it down it means I’m doing just under 60 hours at the day job every week. A lot of people do a lot more. But irrespectively of what someone else might be doing it still means that I’m doing nearly 20 hours extra every week. 20 hours. That’s a lot of fun time. Or, as a large proportion of it was intended to be, byflock time.
Our time is limited. That makes it incredibly valuable
From the day we are old enough to understand life and death we know that our time on this planet comes with an expiry date. But we don’t know when. Though most of us hope to live a long and happy life there are no guarantees for tomorrow. That makes our time today, right now, even more valuable. Yet we repeatedly forget exactly how valuable our time actually is and we spend it on things we don’t really want to do. The internet is full of inspirational reads on what our older and wiser elders say when their time is closing in on them. None of them wish they would have worked more. In fact, most of them wish they would have worked less and instead spent more time with the ones they love, doing what they love. Not worked more.
Since I embarked on the startup journey I’ve become more conscious of how I spend my time. Time is what I have to invest in our products and company right now. That makes my time one of the most valuable assets I have at the moment. But it’s not all about work. As I’m currently working on the startup on the side, the time I have off from work, be that from the day job or byflock, has also become more valuable. Because during this first part of the journey, how ever long it may be, there will be less spare time and I want to make the most of it.
Taking control of our time
Yesterday when I added up the individual hours and realised just how much extra I’m working every week it was a bit of an eye opener. What starts as a few hours here and there soon adds up to a substantial amount of time. A lot of things can be done in 20 hours every week if you’re a startup. And a lot of things can be done in the office during 20 hours. Most of us can hand on heart say that our days could be made more efficient. Meetings cut shorter and our actual work time made more focused with less interruptions and disruptions, meaning that we could be spending less time in the office and more time outside if only we take control of our day.
Working just an extra 1.5 hours every day adds up to the equivalent of working a 7.5 hour day extra, and potentially for free, every week. That’s 47 days in a whole year (based on someone taking five weeks off for holidays). 47 days. That’s a month and a half, or the equivalent of 9.4 working weeks. Unfortunately time doesn’t work in such a way that we can convert those extra hours to extra days and add them to the week. But it’s still worth remembering what those extra hours actually do add up to. Wether you’re staying late because you feel you have to, or because the day is dragging out making it hard for you to get your actual work done during office hours, dont forget that all those extra hours that you put in is time that was supposed to be yours. The less of them you spend in the office, the more time you’ll have for the things and the people that you love. And after all, that’s what life is supposed to be about.
Tomorrow – Day 186 | There are very few things we ‘have’ to do
Image source: www.flickr.com/photos/zylenia/4870155660
