As an entrepreneur, I’ve asked myself how much time should I and my employees be working on an annual, quarterly, monthly, weekly, and daily basis. What is the ideal amount so I’m in the game and still balancing my life? This of course is assuming you’ve got the right job, manager, office, etc, so barring all other factors.
Organizational Psychology would be the place to start with discovering the answer, but I’m going to go a different direction.
Let’s start with back into the number. For optimum balance and building yourself, there is health, education, emotional & spiritual foundation. Parts of this assessment of time is my opinion on how much time should be spent, but I’ve provided some support resources. Let’s see what would go into each category per day:
Health – 10hrs
- 7 hrs uninterrupted sleep according to a study by the Archives of General Psychiatry on mortality and sleep, unless you are doing polyphasic sleep
- 1hr exercise – This time is all inclusive. I’m not saying what needs to go within that time frame, but you need to burn >4200 kcal/week for lowest heart disease risk. It is also recommended to have about 150-300 minutes per week.
- 1hr eating – It surprised me but the average time per day is only 65 minutes total per person
- 1hr hygiene – that includes brushing teeth, getting ready for work, showers, etc.
Education (direct) – 2.5hrs
- 1.5hrs learning – This covers reading, listening, or watching the news, podcasts, books, blogs, etc. (of course if it’s part of your job, it doesn’t count)
- 1hr maintaining life – balancing budget, cleaning house, shopping, groceries, etc.
Emotional & Spiritual Foundation – 5.25hrs
- 3hrs family time – This covers direct & immediate family & vacations to family, and an assumption you have a child 1
- 1hr Leisure – hanging out with friends 1
- 0.75hr Meditation / Spiritual time - There’s value according to the Cleveland Clinic 2
So that is a total of 17.75hrs. Of course the prescribed times above should and will be split up throughout the day. That leaves us with 6.25 hrs. If you commute, or have meetings for work, then you have to add in travel time. The average in the U.S. is 24.3min 1, so leaves 6 hours. That equals about 42 hours a week left.
- Norway is ranked #1 happiest and 6th most productive country in the world where they average 33.4hrs of work a week, they have 5 weeks of vacation, 63.8% work 5 days a week, but 25% work less, which is the highest proportion in the EU. 15 hours a week is spent on average with children.
- According to the The Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology there is a higher level of heart disease in men working greater than 48 hours a weak. was a European Directive that
- Here’s an article on how working 12 hours a day is hazardous in the Occupational & Environmental Medicine Journal.
- Here’s an article on the effectives of work hours on health
If you take the difference between Norway’s average of 33.4hrs and the 42 hours I’ve derived you have 8.6hrs of free time per week, but you need to take into consideration they have 5 additional weeks of vacation. Take those 8.6 hrs a week and build another skill or master a hobby, don’t just sit on the couch.
So what do you do? Take in the logic, add in your own math, and gain some peace of mind, while increasing your productivity!
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