Time Flies When You’re Not Being Productive

There are 24 hours in the day. You can’t get around that.

We all lead different lives. We have different responsibilities.

It may be a full-time or part-time job.

Family, children, elderly parents or one of hundred other things that need to be taken care of.

We also need time for ourselves to recharge our batteries.

Is it busy lives or is it something else. As an entrepreneur sacrifices are necessary to reach the end goal whatever that goal may be. It’s part of the journey. The sacrifice might be as simple as waking up an hour earlier or staying up an hour later.

What you do do with that time is another story.

So what do people do everyday? This chart comes from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. This chart is specifically for leisure time.

Granted everyone needs to unwind. But 5 hours? Everyday?  Add to that a couple hours for “household activities” and on average 8-9 hours for sleep (according to BLS) and your job how ever many hours you work.

Okay in all fairness I’m quite familiar with this life. Wake up, work for 8 hours come home, do the house cleaning or whatever, make dinner and plop in front of the tv. Just watching tv for 5 hours was typical for me.

Deciding you want a life change like starting your own business or changing careers is a tough decision to begin with when you have no clue where to start. You struggle, you learn, you struggle some more and keep moving forward.

The roadblock that some of us run into is falling back into old habits. It’s like giving up sweets, one slip and you find yourself slipping more and more until you decide you’ll just start over on Monday.

Here’s the thing, you can recover. When I was in high school I was in the ski club. One night I wiped out and went rolling not head over heels but sideways and of course my skis never popped off. I was shook up but managed not to break my legs.

I got up and skied the rest of the way down the mountain. I didn’t let that setback stop me from doing something that was important and fun to do. You may not break anything if you slip back into unproductive habits. But if you don’t get back up it will make reaching your goals an impossibility.

We are almost always our own worst critic but we are human, we have flaws and bad days. We are also resilient, resourceful and we can “bounce” back. So turn off the tv, get out your checklist and return to your intention.