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How to Best Use your 24 hours

Question: in one of your project management post (here), you wrote about how we cannot control time and that time management is really project management. In other words, we should look at time as something we should plan ahead so that we make full use of it. 

All of us have 24 hours - how do you suggest that we best use the time we have?



Answer: we all want to be productive and it may seem overwhelming if we want to put in all the stuff that we want to do. For some at one end of the spectrum, 24 hours is very long that we find it difficult to put stuff in which make many people say that "life is boring". There are also those at the opposite end who think 24 hours is too short and wish for more time to complete a deadline. 

Allow me to give a proposal of how to best manage the 24 hours, in a more simplified manner so that we all can plan our life. I see the 24 hours as split into 3 segments of 8 hours each. This comprises of the following:
  1. The vocational segment of 8 hours
  2. The rest segment of 8 hours
  3. The avocational segment of 8 hours

8 hours of Vocation

The vocational segment is your job - this is what you do (or what other people think you do) for a living. 

It starts as early as 6 years of age where one stops from being called toddler or pre-schooler to being called a "student". As a toddler or pre-schooler, life is pretty much determined by the parents. This changes as the child (for most kids, this starts at age 6 onwards) becomes a student at the kindergarten and continues the journey to college. As a student, the child is then required to spend 1/3 of life in his books - paying attention in class, completing the homework and assigments, understanding and memorizing what is taught so that when he or she is tested, he or she can ace the test or exam. Spend less than 8 hours and the consequences are that lower grades, lesser understanding, etc. 

For some, the student life is even earlier (at ages 4-5) when the child is put through music lessons, art, dance, or sports. Needless to say, those who start earlier will have an advantage and even more if one puts in the hours and hire expert trainers to help the transtion from toddler to athlete, artist, musician, etc. 

In college (between semesters), the student may switch to becoming an intern. After graduation, when the student finds a permanent job, the person then take a whole new role change to becoming a company employee, an office worker, a cashier, banker, a doctor or lawyer or whoever will give the college kid a job that will occupy the 8 hours. 

8 hours of Rest

The 2nd segment of 8 hours will be rest. It is important to rest after the vocation, so that we can fight again another day. Another good reason for this 8 hours of rest is that it allows the body and mind to recover from the stress, and reduce the elevated cortisol levels back to normal.  Obviously, the best use of the rest portion will be through sleeping and it is recommended that this rest will be from 10pm to 6am, if possible. If not, then 11pm to 7am. Minimally, the rest should be at least 6 hours. 

More info on the importance of sleep here.

8 hours of Avocation


The 3rd segment is where you put the other items in your life. This includes exercise, reading, church or religious activities, spending time in a hobby (music appreciation, movies and musicals, team sports, e-sports, dance, visual/performing/martial arts, etc.), meditating, spending time with friends and family. Do this part well and life is really one which you would say that "life is worth the living". 

In many cases however, what many people will do is to spend this 3rd segment on work. Of course, if you spend 12-16 hours working each day, the returns will be good. As a student, this may be the norm...where one spend 8 hours attending classes and then 8 hours on sports training, music practice or other activities and then homework/assignments in the evening.

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It is perfectly fine (for a certain period anyway) where we spend more time on 1 segment (work) and less on another (sleep or spending time with family). Sometime, we are forced by circumstances or emergencies...but once the event has slowed down or that issue has subsided, we should take stock and rebalance. 

We can take a typical student life as example: 4-6 hours of attending classes/lectures followed by several hours of extra-curricular activities and then followed by several hours of homework and project assigments plus studying for quiz/test/exam. When there is term break, the student then take some time off to rest and relax and rebalance life. I think this is a better use of time, versus the salary-man who works from 8am to 10pm, then comes home for dinner and social media before bed.

I really like what King Solomon mentioned in the book of Ecclesiastes, "to everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven".






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