168 Hours

“I don’t have time” is the story of my life.

I am a person who is easily overwhelmed, and so when the workload is heavy and there is a lot going on socially (and I’m not talking partying my life away, I’m talking graduations, weddings….obligatory events), I have a very hard time squeezing anything else into my agenda. PLUS, throw in the fact that I am in the midst of planning my own wedding and you just have an outright train wreck. My fiancé recently made me read an excerpt from his studies that explain how lawyers achieve a work-life balance and it has opened my eyes to a whole new outlook on time. It goes something like this:

Each weeks holds 168 hours. If you sleep 8 hours a night (56 hours per week), and work 50 hours a week, that adds up to 106 hours, leaving 62 hours per week for other things.

Sure, you have a commute, house chores, grocery shopping, errands, spending time with kids/family, but that still leaves plenty of time for other crucial things in life such as exercise. If you divide those 62 hours by the 7 days a week, there is approximately 8 hours left each day to do as you please. I, myself, find it hard to work out regularly because I am sticking to someone else’s schedule (my yoga studio), however, if I opted to take a run around my neighborhood I could easily log 2.5 hours of physical activity, which is the proven amount to keep you happy and healthy.

Since reading this article I have been closely examining my days to see where time actually goes. As predicted, I found myself scrolling through Instagram, painting my nails, updating my Spotify playlists, searching for wedding inspiration on Pinterest, rearranging my bookcases, filing away paid bills, walking the dogs, and washing towels among a variety of other small tasks that have taken over my day.

This week I challenge you to log how you spend your days hour by hour. A simple word (think: work, work out, shopping, cooking, etc.) will do, as we don’t want this to actually take up much time, and try to rearrange the way you spend your time. Good luck!