Lots of people wish they had more time to spare or more time to get something done. Daylight Savings Time has me curious about what YOU would do if you had an extra hour EVERY day.
At first I thought "I'll finally have time to * insert productive activity i've been meaning to do for a long time * In a year I could probably learn another language, or learn a new instrument or become a pro in photoshop. So many skills I could acquire if only i had an extra hour a day. " But when I though about it some more, I think nothing would really change. I'll just browse the internet for another hour. Or sleep. I probably already have that extra hour. I already have the possibility to acquire all these skills if only I dedicate an hour from my not so busy day to learning. I should, but for some reason I don't. Dedication takes a lot of effort and it's hard.
I'd do the same things I already do, just 60 minutes more of it. Not being glib, it just wouldn't change my behaviors all that much but would add an extra few minutes a day to work, Hubski, family time, reading, tennis, making music etc. But would I be a drastically more productive person? Would it completely change my life? Nope. The reality is that most people could add an extra hour of productivity to their lives if they wanted to. I sleep around 6 hours a night. Most people sleep 8 and some more. Plus a LOT of people watch a ton of TV. I'm always shocked at how much the average person in the US watches. EDIT: I was just reading an NPR article titled, "Lincoln's 272 Words a Model of Brevity For Modern Times by Scott Simon. Apparently, the Lincoln library has challenged writers and artists to come up with 272 words about the Gettysburg Address. Below is what Scott Simon came up with and while reading it, I thought of this post. Good question louderwords, but I think Simon has a point that despite our having more years than ever, we likely don't feel we have more time than our predecessors."The average life expectancy of an American in our times hovers around (I dare put it this way) four score. In Lincoln's time, it was not even three score (and of course, he died four years shy of that). We are surrounded today by drudgery-sparing, timesaving, life-extending technologies — hot water at the touch of a button! Instantaneous communication over oceans! Open-heart surgery! — that was unfathomable in Lincoln's time. Yet I doubt many of us feel that we have more time.
"Lincoln knew life was often brief and mean. His mother died when he was a boy. Two of his boys died in childhood. He knew that tens of thousands of people — so many of them young — had died in a war which, however necessary and noble we deem it now, had unleashed unprecedented and even unimaginable bloodletting by Abe Lincoln's own hand.
"The slaughter was senseless. But we could go on living if those deaths could breathe life into a more free, just and moral nation — 'that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion.'
"Lincoln's words remind us at once of the brevity of life and the imperishability of humanity. The clock ticks, the calendar flips. No power exists to slow them down or manufacture more hours and years. Abe Lincoln reminds us to make our own lives count by filling the hours we have with what's worthy, kind, funny and honorable."
I read that article too! I didn't read Simon's response until just now but it did prompt me to re-read the Gettysburg Address. I found it ironic that Lincoln said, "The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here..." and it is currently and probably will continue to be one of the most famous speeches ever delivered and an absolute master-showing of saying so much with so little.
Unfortunately I'd probably just spend an extra hour on the internet. That's what I did this year for DST. #InternetAddiction
Do you work with food or do you mean you would cook better food for yourself?
I actually cut out an hour of sleep/relax for an hour of work recently. I used to be 10pm was the time I would switch gears from productive to unproductive. Now I pushed that to 11pm and force myself to finish up things (or at least hang out on Hubski) before sitting on the couch or getting in bed. I still end up falling asleep around the same time, I just spend less time with my brain turned off. Not much has changed, honestly. I took the entire day off yesterday though because I was caught up from working until 11pm on Friday. It was nice.