So I am standing here in Tim Horton's after having missed the train yet again, and it occurs to me that the key to success has got to be time management. I mean, there are other things that can be considered key, like motivation, aptitude, awareness etc. (I mulled over intellect for a little while, but its not really critical to success). But the real key, is time management.
Proper time management let's me to allocate enough time to work, maximizes time with family, gives me enough time to exercise, and would allow me to act faster on one of my business ideas. At least, I think time management would let me do these things. Let's imagine that a day is all the money I have, budget it, and see if I have enough time.
Budget - $24
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Sleep. - $6
Commute - $3
Work - $8
Family - $4
Exercise - $1
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Total. - $22
Surplus. - $2
So that's good news! Now how would this work out in reality on a "good" average day? Let's see...
Wake up 5:30am
Catch 6:37am train
At work by 7:30am
Catch the 5:15pm train home.
Family time 6:30pm
Exercise / work on business 10:30pm
Sleep midnight (6 hours)
Hmmm..... Something's not adding up... The reality is that If you count the minutes from when I wake up til when I get home, its a total of 13 hours rather than the 11 implied in my above example, which basically kills any "spare" time that I have. The reality is also that I am spending (in my above example) ~9.5 hours at work rather than the 8 allocated in my "budget". So since I'm spending more time at work, my only two options are less time with family (not a preferred choice, I have two little kids!), or using some of my working time for personal business. I don't exactly think my employer would appreciate this, but as my hours extend beyond the typical day, does this give me the moral right to spend some of that time on my personal business (meaning more than the average bill pay and personal call that the average person does). What do you think? Let me know by leaving a comment below.
