How to Save a Million Days of Time in a Lifetime

Yes, this does raise the bar quite a bit.

There are 1440 minutes in a day.  

                    Saving one million days x 1440 minutes = 1.4 billion minutes.

In order to save that kind of time I’m going to need a small army of people.  So how big is the army?  It’s about 2,000 people.  For military folks I think thats about the size of a regiment.  

The maneuvers of this army are unlike a traditional army.  This small army is rather autonomous.  Each person can act independently to achieve the goal of my previous article, “How To Save a Million Seconds This Year".  I’m using 40 years for the lifetime because it represents the median years of the average person’s remaining life expectancy.  

1.4 billion minutes / (40 years * 365 days per year) / 2000 people is about 49 minutes per day per person.  Let’s round down to 45 minutes per day per person.

Saving (investing) 45 minutes per day is pretty achievable for most of us.  Remember from my previous article, “How to Save a Million Milliseconds per Day”, that saving time is impossible, but what we really want to do is invest our time in things that matter.  

Why do you care about saving a million days of time in a lifetime? In the previous article, “How to Save a Million Hours of Time in a Century,” you were pretty stunned that I asked you to save a million hours of time in a century and that goal was impossible to achieve without enlisting 25 friends and family.

Saving a million days of time in a lifetime is a goal I have for myself.  It requires that I help 2,000 people save an average of 45 minutes a day during their lifetime.   This is a personal mission. 

If you would like to help me, please share this article with your family and friends.

Perhaps even ask if they would like to sign up to receive future articles.  But only do that if you feel you are getting value from these articles.

Here’s a couple practical things that can help you save 45 or more minutes of time in your day.

A Goal

Let’s say you want to work on physical fitness (this category is probably one of the most tangle).  A goal might be to run a 5k race.  Consider picking a local race…and there are so many to choose from.  Sign up.  Now you have a goal.  If you take this option, be sure to give yourself about 3-4 months if you are starting from scratch.

A weight reduction goal might also be very tangle.  There are a zillion ways to approach this, but perhaps a practical way to approach this is targeting a 5 or 10 lbs in 30 days.

Another way to slice this goal would be a goal to workout a certain number of days in the week.  Workouts might include yoga, weights at the gym or running.  Let’s say you wanted to start with 2 days per week. You might find a class at the YMCA or Local Gym that could help.  If you want to spend little or no money, you can easily grab a yoga mat and use YouTube as your instructor.

Another type of goal would be to read a book to improve your personal or professional skills.  Breaking this down into a daily reading goal is potentially a good way to decompose into bite size morsels. Here’s a couple of my favorite if you need a starter list

• Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, by Stephen Covey (my foundation for a purposeful and productive life)

• Getting Things Done by David Allen (this is a system for executing a purposeful and productive life)

• The 80/20 Principle by David Koch (a framework for determine the best ways to apply time and energy)

• The ONE Thing by Gary Keller and Jay Papasan (a very specific system for applying the 80/20 Principle)

Along this same line, a family based goal would be to play 1 family game in a week with your entire crew.  Or perhaps have breakfast with everyone in attendance twice a week. 

Perhaps you are ambitious on this front and want to have dinner together every weekday.

A Calendar

You probably have a calendar app or perhaps you use Google Calendar or Apple Calendar or Outlook Calendar.  If you have a goal of doing a time saving activity such as personal growth or health or time with family or professional certification or personal activity, step 1 is to schedule the time in your calendar.  

Seriously, if you want to do that morning jog or yoga or breakfast with family, put it in the calendar.  Whether at home or at the office, we typically respect our calendar and do what it says.  So take the proactive step and put your ambitious plans on your calendar. 

A Buddy

I love to do things with my friends and family and you might feel the same way. It’s fun to go to the movies with a group or friend or spouse or son or daughter.  When you go out to dinner It’s more fun to share a meal with someone rather than sit alone at a table.  

This is also true for many of the aspirations that we have.  Enjoying solo success is seldom fulfilling.  Think about events like swimming or track where an individual competes alone. When he or she wins the race, the celebration is shared by coaches and family and not just one person. 

I had the ambition of running a marathon, and I shared it with a friend and we both began to dream and plan.  We both ended up running marathons within 12 months of each other.  Our plan to run together didn’t workout, but we achieved our dream and shared in each others the success.

Please leave a comment about the goal that you are trying achieve and your biggest challenge with reaching it.

-Steve.