How Are You Spending Your Extra Time?
Many of us are now attending classes or working from home, saving hours of commuting time. To find out just how much time we’re saving and what we’re doing with this time, researchers surveyed 10,000 Americans earlier this year. They found out that we are saving more than 60 million hours per workday, amounting to over 9 billion hours over the past seven months (Barrero et al., 2020).
Here is what participants said about how they are spending their extra time:
Working on Primary Job 35%
Leisure Activities 30%
Home Improvement & Chores 15.5%
Childcare 11.1%
Second Job(s) 8.4%
If you are one of those people who have extra time in your day from the lack of commuting, take a moment to consider these questions:
Are you spending your time aligned with what’s important to you?
Are you spending more time mindlessly doing things expected of you or following the path of least resistance?
Do you feel like you know what you value?
It takes courage to pause and consider these questions. However, exploring these questions is essential to living a meaningful and purposeful life. That’s because when we purposely move through life, making choices—both large and small—that are in alignment with our values, we feel more alive, fulfilled, and happy.
One way to explore what we value is to look at how we spend our time. To do that, start by considering how you show up in terms of actions. This is one way to turn the intangible into tangible evidence of our beliefs and values.
As you begin this exploration, consider time in two dimensions: quantity or the amount of time you spend doing certain activities and the quality of that time. The quality component relates to whether you are fully present or if your attention was focused elsewhere. Take a few minutes to listen to the practice below, called “What Do I Value?” and begin to identify what’s true for you. This practice assumes that how you spent your time today or yesterday reflects what’s important to you. Even if these days are not necessarily typical, it will still be useful to look at a recent day in your life.
Once you have completed this exercise, consider what actions you want to take to align how you spend your time to what’s important to you. To make these changes stick, you may want to start with small changes and gradually shift toward spending more high-quality time in those activities you value most.