Where Does the Time Go?

Derek Lovett

March 8, 2023

The average individual's existing routine accounts for approximately 85% of their time. What does this mean? It means that if you want to change the results in your life then you only have about 15% of your time to work with. Out of an entire week (168 hours) that 15% equates to about 25 hours. My question to you: What could you do with 25 hours?

You may be saying right now, "I don't have that much time!" If that is you, consider this: millions of individuals have similar sentiments. A 2019 New York Times post stated that the average American reported that they only had about 5 hours of "me time" a week (an average of 43 minutes a day). So where are the other 20 hours going?

A 2010 Harvard Business Review post lends some insight into the seeming "disappearance" of this time. In emphatic fashion, it expresses that true multitasking --effeciently doing more than one thing at a time --DOESN'T EXIST! So what does this mean for you and I? With our ever-evolving adaptation to the digital world and the subsequent ease in which everything in our world is connected, our inclination as human beings to multitask is only growing. And while we may feel that we are doing more than one thing at a time, we are not --instead, our brains are only switching rapidly between objects.

Many of us don't feel the impact of those 20 hours in our well-being and productivity because we are always multitasking! That is, we are missing the 20 hours because we aren't embracing that time with clear purpose and intent. In psychology terms, this means that it is as if the time never existed! That's why you feel mentally, emotionally, and physically exhausted. That's why you get restless.

If you are in need of finding your "lost time", get started with the R3 Planning Framework!

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