Manage Your 168

Did you know there are only 168 hours in the week? That’s it. From midnight on Sunday, until Saturday at 11:59PM, you only have 168 hours to get things done. What I’ve discovered is that how you spend your time indicates two things: What is important to you and what is keeping you from doing what is important to you.

Let’s do the math:

• 168 = hours in the week
•  56 = hours of sleep (56 is ideal, but let’s be honest, you aren’t getting that much..another topic for another day)
• 10 = hours of a morning routine (This includes getting everyone, including you showered, dressed, fed and out the door)
• 40 = hours of work (Even more if you work for yourself or have a very demanding career)
• 10 = hours of commuting (Even if your commute is only 15 minutes, this includes the 45 minutes you spend winding down from the day)
• 10 = hours of an evening routine (Cooking dinner, checking homework, getting kids to bed…)

Do you see where I’m going with this? Between sleeping, working and commuting you are left with 42 hours for the week and you haven’t spent any quality time with your family, pursued your passions, indulged in your hobbies, volunteered in the community or just took time for yourself. It doesn’t include extracurricular activities and the mundane tasks like grocery shopping and getting the oil changed .

Once you get past the “shining object” syndrome, what are you doing with your time? One of my clients shared that she wanted to write a book but when we took a look at her 168 chart, she was spending 3 hours a night on social media and looking at TV. Another client want to grow her business but she wasn’t taking advantage of her lunch hour at her “dream funder” to respond to emails or learn more about her industry. If you have a long commute, find a way to make time both productive and beneficial. If you drive, listen to an audio book or call a friend to catch up. Take advantage of your lunch hour run errands that you would typically do on the weekend like picking up the dry cleaning.

I challenge you to track your 168 with this template: WYP What are You Doing with Your 168 to see how you are spending your time. I would love to hear what was revealed to you after a week of tracking.

With love,