How to easily find another 40 hours in your week (4 Tips)

Where’s the waste in your personal brand hiding?

Time is perhaps the most precious thing you have. How much of it you’ll have in your lifetime is mostly beyond your control. But, how you use it is.

The Lean Startup, by Eric Ries, builds on the lean manufacturing movement. The revolution radically altered supply chains. It was characterised by maximising productivity and minimising waste. It reminds you to focus on value-creating activities.

Personal branding is about the small steps to achieve your greater vision. In my coaching, I'm often met with resistance from people saying they don’t have the time. The time to pursue that interest further or to join a community group. Or to start that blog, podcast or YouTube channel. If this sounds like you, consider auditing your time, to find where the waste might be hiding.

Tip #1: Remember the ‘slight edge’ behaviours matter for our personal brand

In The Slight Edge, Jeff Olson proposes success is created over time through consistent daily disciplines. Every day you have a choice to master the mundane. Doing the things that are easy to do - but, equally as easy not to do. An error in choice sends you closer to failure, and at first, goes unnoticed.

Each positive action directs you closer to success. It also goes unnoticed, but, is the compounded energy that cultivates a quantum leap.

How could some smaller behaviours be keeping you from your personal brand vision?

Tip #2: Consider the opportunity cost

Charles Darwin said:

“A man who dares to waste an hour or time has not discovered the value of life.”

The basics of economics evaluates opportunity costs. When faced with limited resources, choices need to be made between mutually exclusive alternatives. The opportunity cost is the value of the best-alternative forgone when that decision is made.

Your daily choices, and how you spend your time have opportunity costs. Consider this even in the most menial of daily indulgences. A wasted half-hour, hour or more here and there is an opportunity cost to your personal brand vision. So, where might the wasted time and energy be for you?

Tip #3: Common causes of waste

1. Television

Most Australian and US reports estimate the average person watches 2.5-3 hours of television per day. That’s 17.5-21 hours a week that could be spent on building a new skill, a side project, relationships or high-value hobbies. Take reading, for example. Research has compared TV watchers and readers. Readers reportedly have more knowledge, better analytical skills, improved judgement and problem-solving skills. It also improves your vocabulary and communication skills.

• Television = Approximately 17.5 hours per week

• Annual equivalent = 910 hours

• 40-hour work-week equivalent = 23 weeks

2. Social media

Market research company, GWI estimates the typical working-age internet user spends 2.5 hours a day on social media. By these estimates, that’s another 17.5 hours per week. Based on these numbers, that’s the annual equivalent of nearly 23 40-hour work weeks. Just a couple of weeks shy of half a 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.

Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport proposes:

“A philosophy of technology use in which you focus your online time on a small number of carefully selected and optimized 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.

Learn more about this in my earlier blog on My Personal Digital Diet Plan.

• Social media = Approximately 17.5 hours per week

• Annual equivalent = 910 hours

• 40-hour work-week equivalent = 23 weeks

3. Mindless commutes

If you commute to work, it’s costing you time and money. The Real Australian Commute Report 2022 estimated the average Australian’s commute takes 54 minutes per day (33km), costing an average of $20 per day.

By my calculations, that means the average full-time worker spends approximately 270 minutes (4.5 hours) in the car weekly. If you work 48 weeks of the year, this amounts to 216 hours - or the equivalent of nearly approximately five 40-hour work weeks.

The report also showed getting from A to B for work costs the average commuter approximately $4,000 annually.

Do your own calculations to work out what your annual commute is costing you in time and money. Then, consider how you can make the best use of your time.

The legendary Zig Ziglar coined the term ‘automobile university’, for making the most of your commute.

Consider swapping out the radio for a rewarding podcast in your niche interest, audiobooks or learning a language.

• Mindless commutes = Approximately 4.5 hours per week

• Annual equivalent = 216 hours

• 40-hour work-week equivalent = 5 weeks

Maybe you’ll only find one hour a day. Steven Pressfield’s Put Your Ass Where Your Heart Is reminds you why even one hour still matters.

One hour a day on an aspirational project for 365 days, equates to nine 40-hour work weeks.

Tip #4: Own your mornings, own your day

While your individual sleep needs should be taken into account, consider a review of your routine. As they say, if you own your morning, you own your day.

Could you afford to wake up earlier and carve out more time for an interest or project? If you’re worried about getting enough sleep, is it your bedtime that could be adjusted? Small shifts in your routine can compound into great changes over time for your personal brand.

Next time you catch yourself saying you don’t have the time, ask yourself how you can find the time instead. Find the seemingly tiny moments of waste. Which when switched to more productive activities, can do wonders for your personal brand.

So, where is your waste in your personal brand hiding?