WEBVTT - Your 800,000 hours 

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.

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<v Speaker 1>Good Morning. This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.

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<v Speaker 1>Today's tip is to think about how many hours we

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<v Speaker 1>have in life, and while that might sound a bit morbid,

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<v Speaker 1>I find it helpful for clarifying what matters and what doesn't.

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<v Speaker 1>You may not have calculated this before, but there are

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<v Speaker 1>eight thousand, seven hundred sixty hours in a year. That

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<v Speaker 1>means that if you live to be ninety, you've got

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<v Speaker 1>about seven hundred eighty nine thousand hours in your life.

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<v Speaker 1>Let's be optimistic and call this eight hundred thousand. It's

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<v Speaker 1>just easier to work with. This makes a life span

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<v Speaker 1>somewhere between ninety one and ninety two years. I imagine

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<v Speaker 1>that for most podcast listeners some proportion of those eight

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<v Speaker 1>hundred thousand hours have come and gone. There's no it

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<v Speaker 1>out plenty left. But it's not an infinite amount. It's

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<v Speaker 1>also not trillions or billions or even millions of hours.

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<v Speaker 1>It's probably somewhere in the six figures. In other words,

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<v Speaker 1>it's a number we can picture, a number we can

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<v Speaker 1>get our heads around. And while no one really likes

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<v Speaker 1>to think about the finite nature of our own time.

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<v Speaker 1>This finite number opens up the possibility of more calculated

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<v Speaker 1>decision making. We can think about how we'd like to

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<v Speaker 1>allocate and invest these hours. We can think about what

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<v Speaker 1>deserves to be in these hours and what does not.

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<v Speaker 1>However old you are, I have an encouraging message for you.

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<v Speaker 1>The hours you have left can still hold a lot.

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<v Speaker 1>A two week trip to Australia would be three thirty

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<v Speaker 1>six hours if thirty six of those might be spent

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<v Speaker 1>crammed on an airplane. People who participate in National Novel

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<v Speaker 1>Writing Month in November are cranking out fifty thousand word

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<v Speaker 1>drafts in thirty days. Many people need about three hours

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<v Speaker 1>per day, or ninety hours total to hit that word count. Now,

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<v Speaker 1>obviously you have to rest and recover from that level

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<v Speaker 1>of writing output, and you need to build in a

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<v Speaker 1>lot of time to edit too, to have anything that

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<v Speaker 1>some one would want to read. But still I could

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<v Speaker 1>put a lot of ninety hour chunks into the roughly

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<v Speaker 1>four hundred twenty thousand hours I might have left. I

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<v Speaker 1>might have more books left in me than i'd imagine.

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<v Speaker 1>Training for a marathon is a significant investment of time,

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<v Speaker 1>but it is also a finite investment of time. Most

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<v Speaker 1>regular runners could manage it in about ten hours a

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<v Speaker 1>week for sixteen weeks. That's a hundred sixty hours just

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<v Speaker 1>a tiny fraction of that overall chunk time is plentiful.

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<v Speaker 1>Of course, time is also precious too. Watching two hours

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<v Speaker 1>of TV a day means watching twenty nine thousand, two

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<v Speaker 1>hundred hours over forty remaining years. It's shockingly easy to

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<v Speaker 1>clock two hours of mindless internet scrolling per day that

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<v Speaker 1>likewise would be hours, which is a lot of novels

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<v Speaker 1>or trips to Australia. When we think about these numbers,

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<v Speaker 1>we can think about our choices more rationally. We can

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<v Speaker 1>calmly see that there is space for good stuff while

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<v Speaker 1>recognizing that mindless stuff isn't cost less. It all requires

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<v Speaker 1>trade offs. All time requires trade offs. As the heroine

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<v Speaker 1>says in My Time Management Parable Juliet's School of Possibilities,

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<v Speaker 1>expectations are infinite. Time is finite. You are always choosing

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<v Speaker 1>choose well. Choosing well means seeing these trade offs for

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<v Speaker 1>what they are, rather than assuming they don't exist. In

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<v Speaker 1>an upcoming episode, I'll talk more about the framework for

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<v Speaker 1>choices in our eight hours, but today I just want

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<v Speaker 1>you to keep this number in mind. Spend some time

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<v Speaker 1>today thinking about it. Time passes, whether we think about

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<v Speaker 1>where it goes or not, but knowing the number means

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<v Speaker 1>we're slightly more aware of the constant ticking. I like

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<v Speaker 1>to think of that ticking not as a drumbeat marching

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<v Speaker 1>toward doom, but more of a warm heartbeat. We can

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<v Speaker 1>appreciate it and think about it as a reminder of life,

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<v Speaker 1>even if we know that it doesn't go on forever.

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<v Speaker 1>In the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for listening, and

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<v Speaker 1>here's to making the most of our time. Hey, everybody,

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<v Speaker 1>I'd love to hear from you. You can send me

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<v Speaker 1>your tips, your questions, or anything else. Just connect with

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<v Speaker 1>me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at Before Breakfast Pod

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<v Speaker 1>that's b E the number four then Breakfast p o D.

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<v Speaker 1>You can also shoot me an email at Before Breakfast

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<v Speaker 1>podcast at iHeart media dot com. That Before Breakfast is

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<v Speaker 1>spelled out with all the letters. Thanks so much, I

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<v Speaker 1>look forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is a

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<v Speaker 1>production of I Heart Radio. For more podcasts from my

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<v Speaker 1>Heart Radio, visit the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,

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<v Speaker 1>or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.