36 Night Activity 3
Activity #N3: Time Budget and Priorities
Of course you understand we only have 24 hours in a day! With 7-days in a week this give us 168 hours to live our lives. If life is going very well, chances are you will be meeting the needs of your priorities listed in both activities 1 and 2. Because they interact with one another in sharing your precious time, we will now consider them together.
Download the spreadsheet below by clicking the File menu > Download > Microsoft Excel (.xlsx) or by saving it to your own Google Drive and list all 10 of your priorities (5 from activity 1 and 5 from activity 2) in the boxes provided in the spreadsheet.
Once you have them listed, consider how much time you need to commit to each priority each week. This requires some additional thinking and a little quick math. If you put exercise as one of your life priorities in activity 1, next to it you would indicate the number of hours you dedicate (in an ideal week) to doing exercise. Maybe that is 4 hours!
At the end, you should see the total number of hours your priorities require each week. Below that you should see the time you have left in your week for other activities.
For many of us, there are priority tasks not included in our top 10. For example, I’ll bet some of you put sleep as one of your priorities…good for you! If you didn’t, you still need to sleep and will want to consider it within the 168 hours you have each week.
Use the remaining lines on the spreadsheet to type all the other activities you MUST do each week that you do NOT already have as one of your 10 priorities.
Next to each activity, consider the number of hours it takes up. How many hours do all these essential, but not “your priority” activities need each week? Take that total and subtract it from the number of hours you reported having left in your week from the “Time left in your week” box on the spreadsheet.
Many people are surprised at this number. It could be that you have drained all your hours and have nothing left. Or, perhaps you have too many hours. Either way the number can be an indication of your ability to plan and focus on what is important.
The hours you have left can be considered free time. Many of us have hobbies that take up some of this time. Many of us though swallow up too much free time scrolling through social media or mindlessly watching videos.
We tend to underestimate the amount of time we use our phones and devices. For android phone users you can check your device time and app use by going to your settings and a setting called Digital well-being. If you have an i-phone you can find a “screen time” button in the settings app.
This video by Allan Northern summarizes 8 helpful tips on time management. Don’t worry about taking them all on at the same time. Watch and consider what one or two strategies you can pick up today. Behavior change is hard but the payoff can be worth it!
