Optimization is the name of the game here. You're going to want to look everywhere for ways that you can optimize processes and procedures in the name of time savings and making the work as effortless as possible.
I’ve previously provided some examples of this but wanted to take this exploration a bit further today.
Each time saver below is calculated to see how much time you're saving if you were currently 25 and going to live to 90 years old.
Legally change your name
Savings: 4.3 hours
Cumulative savings: 4.3 hoursI can’t even begin to tell you how much time this change is going to save you. Let me break it down for you.
Before your name change, let's say it would take you an average of 6.5 seconds to sign your name. Now, if you change your name to simply two letters, it takes around 0.8 seconds to write your signature. That’s more than 8 times faster, a savings of 5.7 seconds, or 87.69% faster. HUGE!
Let’s say you sign your name around 300 times each year and will live until 90. With your old name, that meant each year you’d spend 32.5 minutes signing your name or 35.21 hours over your lifetime. With your new name, you'll now only spend 4 minutes per year or 4.3 hours till you turn 90 signing your name.
Shower once per week
Savings: 164.75 days
Cumulative savings: 164.76 daysDo you shower pretty much every day? What’s the point?! By cutting your showers back to one per week you're saving an immense amount of time. Sure it's gross, but let's look at the time you're saving.
Before the change:
10 minutes / day
is 60.83 hours each year or 164.75 days till you're 90.
Stop waiting in lines
Savings: 1.35 years
Cumulative savings: 1.80 yearsNeil deGrasse Tyson pointed out on Twitter that, “So much of life is wasted waiting in line: stores, traffic, security, etc. One hour per day sums to 5 yrs of your waking life.” While you might not spend an hour per day in line, let's estimate 30 minutes.
That’s 182.5 hours each year or 1.35 years till you're 90.
Stop preparing and eating food
Savings: 2.71 years
Cumulative savings: 4.51 yearsWe all know that preparing food and sitting down to a meal takes quite a bit of time. That’s why dropping this from your routine is such a time saver. What will you do instead though? Consume only Soylent⇗. Sure, the name is gross but look at the time you're saving!
Let’s estimate that it used to take up an hour each day prepping and eating. That’s 2.71 years till you're 90!
Stop grocery shopping
Savings: 2.7 years
Cumulative savings: 7.2 yearsBecause you're not preparing or eating foods, you no longer have to shop for groceries. That’s two more hours per week you're gaining!
This will save you 15.17 days per year, for a total of 2.7 years if you live till 90.
Consider
Consider wearing diapers. Can you image the years you’d save yourself? Maybe you have to draw the line somewhere though, and it might be here.
Closing
If you find ways like these to cut the time or work it takes and calculate it across your life, you’ll give yourself YEARS you didn’t have before.
By making these changes, you'll save 7.21 years!
In all seriousness, it’s good to take a step back to examine how you’re spending your time. We only get this life, you probably want to make sure you’re spending it wisely. Our time here isn’t infinite. Make the best of it.
Comment and Connect
How do you save time? Shoot me a message on Twitter, @flyinthecoop