Christmas is a mere one week away and if you are anything like me, you’re shocked to find how fast another year has passed. Where does the time go really? Taking a quick inventory of my time management informs me that I’ve spent the 8,760 hours that 2009 provided me with as follows (yes, I realize that ’09 hasn’t ended yet so technically I haven’t finished off all my allotted “2009 hours” yet, so I’ll use my cell phone’s rollover hours from 2008 to make up the difference….just in case any of you reading this are number nerds like me):
- 263 weekdays (working about 250 of those) = 2,125 hours of work.
- Working 250 of those days = 300 hours sitting in traffic.
- My typical workday involves somewhere between 1-2 hours of phone time clients, tenants, and people wanting to sell me stuff I don’t want or need = 375 hours talking on the phone.
- Utilizing the 102 weekend days and 13 non-working weekdays = 115 full days to spend with my wife, two children, and a home that also begs maintenance attention.
- 115 full days = 600 or so hours wrestling with my son and dancing around the house with my daughter.
- 115 full days = 600 or so hours hanging out with my wife.
- 115 full days = 300 or so hours volunteering time at my church.
- And 2,555 hours sleeping in and attempt to repeat all of items listed above on a daily basis.
After reviewing the numbers above I realized a few things. I now know why my butt (traffic), my ear (phone), and my feet (dancing and wrestling) hurt as often as they do. However, of all the hours listed above the ones I’ll cherish the most when this year ends are the full days spent with my wife, my children, and serving at my church. I’ll never forget them and I can never get them back. My encouragement to you for this Christmas and New Year is to live a few more full days.
Money Talk With Gabe 