“If you love life, don’t waste time, for time is what life is made up of.” Bruce Lee
These days you ask most people how they are doing and you will hear it: “Busy. No time. Flat out.” Busyness has become both a complaint and a badge of honour. Yet the math of time tells another story.
How Much Time Do We Really Have?
One year = 8,760 hours.
Subtract 8 hours a night for sleep: 2,920 gone. Add 2 hours a day for meals, showers, and getting ready: 730 more. Factor in commuting (average 2 hours a day): another 730.
That still leaves around 4,400 usable hours a year.
Now, take work. With five weeks of vacation and a couple of weeks of public holidays, most people clock around 2,000 hours a year in the office. Subtract that, and you are left with somewhere around 2,400 discretionary hours.
Of course, life eats into that number. Cooking, shopping, laundry, paying bills, childcare, looking after parents, running errands etc ..all of these carry a time cost.
But here is the truth: even after accounting for those responsibilities, most people still leak away over a thousand hours on low-value distractions.
To put this in perspective:
- You need around 1000 hours to learn a musical instrument to advanced grade.
- 250 – 300 hours of focused study is enough to learn Python, blockchain, or you can deep dive into AI with 500 – 700 and achieve professional-level competence.
- 300 hours of workouts in a year can completely reshape your health.
The hours are there. The problem is not shortage, it is the waste.
Where the Time Goes
Most of us do not lose time in one big block. It slips away in dozens of small habits that feel harmless in the moment but add up to years over a lifetime. Look closely, and you will see the usual suspects:
- Endless scrolling through social media feeds long after the joy has worn off
- Chasing news updates that do not change anything in your daily life
- Sitting through meetings that should have been an email, or achieve nothing concrete
- Saying yes to parties or social events out of obligation rather than genuine connection
- Sliding into gossip or shallow small talk that fills time but leaves you drained
What is interesting is that different forces drive these behaviours. Some are fuelled by FOMO, the worry that if we do not attend the event, join the meeting, or keep up with the feed, we will miss something important. Others come from simple lethargy, the temptation to avoid effort, to take the path of least resistance by defaulting to scrolling, channel surfing, or gossiping.
Together, these twin forces make sure the hours vanish. FOMO keeps us overcommitted, while lethargy keeps us underinvested. The result is the same: busy calendars, tired minds, and very little progress toward the things that matter.
The Happiness Drain
Here is the cruel trick: by wasting time, we are not just squandering hours, we are accumulating regret. The brain feels the gap between what we say we value and how we spend our time. Skip the workout, miss dinner with family, put off your passion project again, and you feel it as guilt, dissatisfaction, and eventually burnout.
“The gap between what we value and how we spend time is the true source of unhappiness.”
Busyness then becomes a shield, an excuse: “I didn’t have time.” But in truth, you did. You just spent it elsewhere.
How the Smart manage time
Those who thrive do not micromanage every second, they simply value their time differently.
- Sleep with discipline: early to bed, early to rise helps regain energy.
- Say no often, especially to meetings and events that do not matter.
- Plan the day before the day plans you. It also helps conserve energy.
- Manage FOMO as most things you skip will make no difference to your future self.
This is not about cramming in more productivity. It is about aligning your hours and energy with your values.
What Your 80-Year-Old Self Will Thank You For
Fast forward to old age. Looking back, which hours mattered? Not the endless scrolling. Not the forgettable meetings. What will remain are those hours and days spent:
- Contributing to something bigger than yourself i.e. efforts to improving society, your community, humanity.
- Showing up for family and friends when they needed you most.
- Planting seeds for the future through mentoring, parenting, and leaving behind a legacy of love and giving.
- Following your passion e.g. ikigai if you are fortunate, but any pursuit that lights you up.
- Practicing random acts of kindness; those are remembered long after you are gone.
Closing Thought
Time wasting is not harmless. It steals clarity, corrodes happiness, and piles up regret.
Busyness is the camouflage. But strip that away, and you discover the truth: you have time. You always did.
The only question is whether you will use it for what matters or let it slip through your fingers disguised as “being busy.”
