If you are like many people I know you never have enough time to do everything you need to do. I see it all the time on social media that there just isn’t enough time to do _____________.  Why is it so many people feel this way?  It is because not enough people plan their time.

Everyone in the world has the same amount of time in a week.  168 hours in fact.  Now, if you are working full time deduct 40 hours from that and it leaves you 128 hours.  Remove 8 hours per night for sleeping (if in fact you sleep that much) and that gives you 72 waking hours during the week to do what you want to do.

If you are working a 5 day work week that means you have two days off.  Minus time for sleep that gives you 32 hours on your off days for the week.  How do you make the most of this time?  Try the “Rule of 3.”

The”Rule of 3″ is simple but you’ll have to make an effort to plan for it until it becomes habit.  Laura Vanderkam describes her rules in this way:

So here’s the rule of three for weekends: plan three meaningful, enjoyable things, beyond life maintenance, that you intend to do on the weekend. There will be different for everyone, but could look like this:

• Go for a run, have date night dinner, go to church
• Volunteer at food bank, meet friend for coffee, go for a family hike
• Visit an art museum, take kid bowling, go for bike ride
• Go to a birthday party, have a picnic, do weight-lifting session

That sounds incredibly simple right?  Simple doesn’t mean easy but if you plan your time, set the goal, and make it a habit then the simply becomes easy.

In This Post: Laura Vanderkam is the author of 168 Hours: You Have More Time Than You Think and writes a blog at my168Hours.com