Alright, let’s talk about your 168 hours. We all get the same amount of time each week (24×7), but it’s what we do with the time we have that counts. Since tonight is Oscar night, let’s look at this topic like a movie – the pacing, the plot, it all changes depending on the different timeframes.
Time Scales: From Panic to Legacy
This week I saw a trailer for 28 Years Later, the third film in the post-apocalyptic 28 Days zombie horror series, and it sparked a realization that different time scales create different challenges. 28 days? That’s the raw, visceral shock, “What just happened?” 28 weeks? People are running around building barricades and hoarding canned beans. 28 years? Now we’re dealing with a whole new generation of kids who hear bedtime stories about the mythical “before times” and hideaways have been replaced by fortresses. Time scales, they shape the narrative in movies, just like in life. Each time-unit has its own rhythm, its own drama.
Movies have a standard format for bridging timescales. They typically do it with a scene that spans the evolution of a character’s progression, from novice to capable practitioner, usually with a soundtrack playing in the background. Think of Rocky Balboa becoming a boxing contender, training in a meat locker to the tune of “Gonna Fly Now,” culminating on the steps of the Philadelphia Art Museum with his arms in the air. Daniel LaRusso in Karate Kid, Elle Woods in Legally Blonde, Wonder Woman mastering sword fighting, archery and hand-to-hand combat, these are all single-scene depictions of the character’s evolution. They compress weeks and months into the 30-second montage.
Meanwhile back in real life, the challenge is to know how to spend our time. Every day delivers some uncertainty. Every day presents choices. What choices will you be given today? Think of it like a slot machine or a scratch card; that anticipation, the unveiling of what you’ve been given. Like a card game, you’re dealt a hand, and you have to figure out how you want to to play it. It’s the universe saying, “Here’s your situation. Now, what are you going to do?”
The Oscar winners tonight will hold up their trophies and claim, “This is proof that dreams come true if you just believe in your dreams,” and that may very well be true in their situation. But let’s be honest, for every barista-turned-Oscar winner, there are millions of baristas hustling for their big break (shout out to all the beautiful, talented baristas out there — you make the world go around!) But is the difference between winners and losers the amount of their “belief” or their “dedication” or the vividness of their dream? Clearly, there’s more to success than that.
After all, every once in a while, a long shot does pay off. Like that guy who won the lottery with a ticket he found under the couch cushions. Or that band you saw in a dive bar that’s now headlining Coachella. That’s the wonderful element of uncertainty. That’s why we take risks. However, we can’t base our life strategy on winning the lottery — hope is not a strategy. Or at least not a good one. We can’t pursue every opportunity. We have to choose which ones to develop and which ones to pass.
The Art of the Maybe: Pursue with Purpose
There’s no way you can chase every opportunity that comes along. So how do you decide which opportunities to pursue? Some of them are clear. The obvious wins? Go for them. The obvious disasters? Avoid them. Those are the easy choices. But in life, most of the decisions are not so clear. Most are uncertain. It’s the “maybes” that are tricky.
So what’s the strategy? I like the “Pursue with Purpose” strategy. When presented with a new opportunity or choice, give it a short burst of time – a minute, an hour – to see if there’s potential. If it’s a dud, move on. If it shows promise, invest more time.
Treat life’s choices like speed dating. Devote a small time-unit to the choice. If it shows promise, set aside a larger time-unit for further investigation and development.
Here’s a practical way to think about it:
- Minute-scale: Quick assessment, gut check
- Hour-scale: Focused exploration, research
- Day-scale: Experimentation, testing the waters
- Week-scale: Sustained effort, project development
- Life-scale: Your long-term goals, your legacy
I do not want to be the person running around with their hair on fire, always busy but never accomplishing anything, and I don’t think you want to be that person either. Use your 168 hours wisely.
This isn’t just about time management; it’s about energy management. We all have limited mental bandwidth. Don’t waste it on dead ends. Otherwise you simply won’t have enough bandwidth for the meaningful opportunities.
It is also about investment. Investing time wisely can pay dividends. There’s an expression, “A fool and his money soon part ways.” In this context, “A fool and his time will soon part ways.”
From day-scale to week-scale to month-scale, ultimately it’s about finding that life-scale project, that thing that gives your time meaning. The Oscar winners have found their passion projects. Theirs started with the same 168-hour question as yours and mine. The question for all of us is, What are you going to do with your 168 hours?