Find Another 40 hours in Your Week: Putting 3 Time-Wasters Under the Spotlight
Reclaim time that too easily slips away without you realising. Compounding these seemingly minor minutes adds up to the equivalent of another full-time job.
We all have the same 24 hours, yet some seem to have mastered how to maximise each minute better than others.
In Steven Pressfield’s book, Put Your Ass Where Your Heart Wants to Be, he highlights the compound effect of one hour. For example, just one hour a day equates to the equivalent of nine 40-hour work weeks.
Are you struggling to find the time for a side hustle, hobby, professional development or your relationships? In this blog, I share some seemingly tiny pockets of time that add up to huge hours over a week and long-term view of your year.
1. Television
Multiple Australian and US reports estimate the average person watches 2.5-3 hours of television per day:
Television watching = Approximately 17.5 hours per week
Annual equivalent = 910 hours
40-hour work-week equivalent = 23 weeks
To put this in perspective, 23 weeks is just shy of half a year (26 weeks).
2. Social media
Market research company, GWI, estimates the typical working-age internet user spends 2.5 hours a day on social media:
Social media scrolling = Approximately 17.5 hours per week
Annual equivalent = 910 hours
40-hour work-week equivalent = 23 weeks
If you’re tallying the weekly maths as we go, based on television watching and social media alone, for the average person, that’s the equivalent of a whopping 46 40-hour work weeks. In Australia, where most work 48 weeks a year, that’s almost like finding another entire full-time job in your year.
While the rest of the world is distracted by their phones and social media (with billions invested into making this the case), consider an alternative approach. You don’t have to ditch social media altogether. Instead of letting it exploit you, how do you leverage it?
In Digital Minimalism, Cal Newport proposes:
“A philosophy of technology use in which you focus your online time on a small number of carefully selected and optimised activities that strongly support things you value, and then happily miss out on everything else.”
The intentional use of social media makes the most of technology without diminishing returns on your time.
3. Commute
The Real Australian Commute Report 2022 estimated the average Australian’s commute takes 54 minutes per day (33km).
By my calculations, that means the average full-time worker spends approximately 270 minutes (4.5 hours) commute each week:
Commuting = Approximately 4.5 hours per week
Annual equivalent = 216 hours (based on 48 weeks a year)
40-hour work-week equivalent = 5 weeks
So with your commute added to the calculations, we now approximately have the equivalent of 52 40-hour work weeks.
Unlike social media scrolling and watching TV, the cost of your commute is also worth giving more thought to.
The same report also showed that getting from A to B for work costs the average commuter approximately $20 per day or approximately $4,000 annually.
So while it might feel like your commute is dead space in your day, remember it comes at a cost. So how might you make the most of your investment?
The legendary Zig Ziglar coined the term ‘automobile university’ for maximising the potential of your commute.
Consider swapping out the radio for a rewarding podcast in your niche interest, audiobooks or learning a language.
From time poor to finding 40 hours
You can’t create more hours in the day, but we can reclaim the ones that might be quietly slipping through our fingers. Television, scrolling, even the daily commute aren’t just habits and mundane routines; they’re hidden value vaults of time waiting to be unlocked. Compound the minutes to uncover the equivalent of an extra full-time job.
The question isn’t whether you have time; it’s how you choose to spend it. Imagine what another 40 hours a week could mean for your craft, career or your closest relationships.
So, what will you do with the time you’ve found?
