What would you do with an extra hour?

I recently saw a show where they asked Americans what they would do with an extra hour in their day. It was a nice experiment to fill some time on a morning talk show, but I thought about it more and more as the day went on. It turns out that there was more to this question.

When I heard the answers to the question, I knew that it was a very important question. The answers included many things like reading, exercising sleeping and spending time with family. These things are clearly important to most people. What makes this so significant is the fact that we feel we need an extra hour in the day to do what’s most important.

Why does TV fit into the regular day when playing with kids doesn’t? Why does the extra work fit in when exercise doesn’t? Why do the miscellaneous errands fit into a regular day when value-adding activities don’t? I don’t understand how that works. I understand how we get into that situation, but I can’t understand not changing it.

The question for me is: Why do we need the extra hour to do things we know we want to do? Many of the things like sleep and exercise are actually needs. They are more than just wants. If we don’t get enough sleep, there are many studies showing that we decrease life expectancy by years. So not only are we not taking advantage of the hours we have, but we are actually eliminating hours from our lives.

That is a scary thought. What is even scarier is that we can sit down and make a list of the things we would do if we had an extra hour and still not be doing them. We can think of a list off the top of our heads and yet, we can’t take that list and make it part of our lives. That is the scariest thought of all.

You’ve heard about the importance of goals and planning. You’ve heard about priorities. You’ve also heard about the state of American health, family structure and many other areas that are in dismal condition.

So what’s the excuse? I’ve heard a laundry list of excuses. I’ve heard everything from work to spouse to pets. You name it and it’s been used as an excuse. Some things are more common than others and actually make this whole concept clearer.

Is it work? “I can’t spend time with my family or take time for my health because I am too busy.” “I am spending more time at work, so I can’t do anything else.”
It is easy to get into the cycle of working too much. You need to provide for your family and pay your bills. I understand that. What I don’t understand is how we can continue to put emphasis on something and still not get anything out of it.

This brings me back to the state of the union and many aspects of it. I can start to understand it when I think about it this way:

Work is just an excuse. We are hiding behind the busy schedule and overtime because we know that no one will question it. It’s ok to be too busy with work to take care of yourself. It’s ok to spend only a few minutes a week with your kids because it’s the busy season. It’s ok to avoid important things as long as you have urgent things to do instead.

I’d like to see that change. I’d like to see it be ok to do important things. It should not be ok to let our needs and our families needs fall by the wayside while we continue to do things that perpetuate this trend.

It IS ok to put your priorities in order. It is ok to fit the activities that you need into your day. It is ok to take that list of things that you would fit in if you had an extra hour and make it part of your day. It may not be easy and the change may not take place in one day, but you can do it. You need to do it and you know it. That is why you said: “if I had an extra hour, I’d do it.”

This is why the question of what I would do with an extra hour in my day raised so much thought. Having spent the past decade talking to people and helping them get their priorities IN their day rather than simply wishing they were there, it was upsetting to hear that so many of us still can’t do it.

Allow me to clarify: It’s not that Americans can’t do it. It’s that Americans are choosing not to do it.

The question: What would you do if you had an EXTRA hour in your day?

The answer: Things that are important that I know I need to do be doing anyway.
When I hear this question and answer, there is only one conclusion that can be drawn. We all know what to do and we are deciding that it’s not important enough.

Why else would we have a list of things that are important and only do those things if we had an extra hour? The moral of the story is: if you really want something to be part of your day…you need to make it part of your day.

That brings us to the most important question: Are you doing what you want to be doing now or are you waiting for that fictional extra hour to get it in?