Don't Tell Me I Have 168 Hours To Be “Productive”
The week has 168 hours, and it is ok if there are none left.
Unsplash, by Jon Tyson
There is this trend going around called “168 hours”. The idea: The week has 168 hours, of which you only sleep and work x amount of hours, which equals to you having enough hours left to be productive and work on your projects. Aka: “You have time. Fix your priorities.”
The flawed "168 Hours" trend
I hate this!
As an elder millennial, I am allergic to all things hustle culture. The productivity tips on social media are making me close my eyes and take a very deep breath. Yes, I love efficiency, I love a good spreadsheet, but can we stop virtually shouting at people to “get their shit together”?
Because I’ve been there. I’ve read every self-help book under the sun, tried every productivity tool and method. Did it make me more productive? For a few days maybe, but not in the long run. And who says, that I am unproductive when I don’t have any hours left at the end of a day spend working, cleaning, and having quality time with my husband?
And the thing is, this exercise isn’t even half bad. If done right, it can help you understand where you spend your hours and where to cut back, if you want to! But I see a lot of examples that forget many things we humans have to do, to keep ourselves alive. Work, sleep, and exercising isn’t all you do (luckily or unfortunately, you decide).
Make time for what matters
After scrolling on Threads (it actually is a pretty nice place to be these days, who would’ve thought a Meta app could be nice?), I finally found some takes that were slightly more realistic:
I am joking, but so is this creator. However, adding all the hours you spend watching reruns of your favorite TV show is probably a good idea.
This is why I loved reading Elle’s more human take on it, where she included cleaning, getting ready, and time for herself (like church, in her case). And it bothers me, that so many takes of this trend do not take any “chores” into account. I mean, do these people not eat, clean, or do laundry?
And when you do have a full-time job, shit to do, and to take care of yourself, how do people have more than 20 hours or 40 hours left in one week? When I saw breakdowns like that I immediately called bullsh*t.
And if we want to be really real, a breakdown easily looks like this:
Like this creator, I too, don’t have any kids or pets and a pretty limited social life. So during a week where my social calendar is filled, my remaining hours shrink significantly. Add in a doctor’s appointment or some unplanned overtime and my “free time” is almost zero.
But somehow I always make it through the week, happy and somewhat relaxed. Why? Because I don’t break my day down in unrealistic chunks of time. And if I would, I wouldn’t leave out important tasks (like taking a shower).
Life is full of unplanned situations. Some of the best moments in my life were spontaneous and unplanned. And I didn’t mind that my week got a little bit more hectic because of it.
So could we please, collectively agree to stop telling people that they have “so much time” per day or week, to pursue a project or a side-hustle, and that they simply need “to fix their priorities”? Some of us don’t have the luxury, others don’t want to. Nor should they feel pressured to do this to have a “productive life”.
Because looking at my breakdown (I am a numbers girlie, I could not, not do this), I feel I am very productive. I have a fulltime job, I do my chores regularly (cleaning, laundry, etc.) and can do some reading and gardening. After all of that, I have 2 hours a day left. That is not much. And I don’t exercise (I know, I know…bad) and I don’t cook (my husband does that).
Yes, I do have this little substack that barely anyone reads. And I do spend time on it. But I treat this as a hobby, a creative outlet for myself to write. So if life would to throw something unplanned at me, this substack is the first to go.
And if you do want to have a side-hustle and be more productive, then it is even more important to be realistic. All the posts saying that all you do is work, sleep, and exercise isn’t going to help you be more realistic. All it’ll do is you getting frustrated with yourself.
To contribute to this trend in a positive way, here is my own breakdown:
Yes, getting ready in the morning takes more time than in the evening. Applying make up is an art, removing it is not.
And yes, I do need 45 minutes in the morning to drink my coffee in peace and stare at the wall or watch TV or videos mindlessly. If I don’t do that, I am going to be the grumpiest person ever.
I don’t cook, my husband does that, but I am the cleaning crew. Since he cooks like a chaotic wannabe michelin star chef, the clean-up can take some time.
Quality time is a must, even if it is just us lying on the couch together, but doing something on our own.
Gardening is something I like doing, but also have to do. If you don’t do it regularly you will live in a forest of weeds.
And keep in mind, none of this is “scheduled”. With the exception of work, that runs on a schedule. But the rest isn’t. An emergency will mess this pretty list up in a second. But good things will mess it up equally, and that is ok.
XOXO
Annika