“ I Don’t Have Time” Myth

November 6th, 2019

2 min read

During my first year of graduate school I realized that the time management techniques that I had developed during my undergraduate degree needed to adapt. I had a lot more responsibility and felt that I was always working. I wanted to have control over my time. In order to adapt I began changing the language in which I approached life and I stopped saying “ I don’t have time”. I want to share with you how I think about time.

Think of your time in terms of 168 hour cycles instead of 24 hours cycles

Most of us think of our schedules in 24 hours cycles. However, fitting work, classes, meetings, exercise, cooking, sleeping, and spending time with friends and family in 24 hours is very challenging. Instead you should think of your schedule in 168 hours (one week) cycles. With this time frame, you can fit all of your activities and much more.

168 hours case study:

Daily sleep 7 hours x 7 days a week = 49 hours
Work from 9am to 5pm x 5 days a week = 40 hours
Total hours thus far = 89 hours
Hours left for the week = 79 hours !!

Even if you commute daily 1 hour back and forth that is = 10 hours
You still have 69 hours left.
Now you can fit in 5 exercise sessions that are 1 hour each = 5 hours
Read a book for 30 mins a day x 7 days a week = 3.5 hours
Total hours left = 60.5 hours.
With this much free time you can have a second full time job!

You control your time, time does not control you – prioritize

In order to control your time it is important to learn how to prioritize activities in your life. As we saw in the case study above, we all have plenty of time in our hands after our main responsibilities are completed. If you are a parent your schedule will look differently see here for tips.

Gone are the days were you said “ I don’t have time” instead you will say, “this is not a priority for me”.

With all that free time you can prioritize what is important to you.

For example:
Schedule time to hang out with friends
Sleep some more
Exercise
Play sports
Join committees
Volunteer
or Work on a new personal project

For more information see Laura Vanderkam’s book.