Time - How do you use yours?

Scientific American recently came out with an article on how human beings across the world spend their time. I was surprised, as I am sure you will be. To learn more, read on.

The study was global; most of the major countries were represented. The sample size and coverage were widespread. People above the age of ten were measured. Assume for a minute that they got the sampling right.

On average, people reported sleeping for 9 of the 24 hours available. The balance of 15 hours was spent on a variety of activities. The number one activity?

What they called direct human outcomes, including hygiene, grooming, healthcare, religious practices, recreation, and social interactions, alone or with friends.The total time spent was 9.4 hours per day, every day.

If you add sleep to this number, 76% of our daily time is spent on us. We care about our personal, physical and mental well-being and the few people around us.

About 2 hours per day were spent on buying, collecting, or preparing food. About an hour per day was spent on learning. No, we were not all unemployed.

Obviously, time was spent on gainful employment, but globally, that was simply not the largest part of how we spend our time. So what is the lesson?

In my humble opinion, there is no asset that you possess that is more finite and valuable than your time. For the longest time, perhaps because I was young, I allowed my time to be consumed by what I would call distractions.

Reading the news for an hour every day would easily rank as one. Knowing what was going on in the world made me appear intelligent, or so I thought.

Today, I know better. My daily routine is much like the global average. I sleep, meditate, exercise, eat, study, work, and mingle with my friends. But I take every moment I have been given as a precious gift and make the best use of it.

I am present focused and simply try to do the best I can. How do you use your time?