Finding Time
A friend— and not the first— inquired how I am finding the time to read as much as I have recently. And the answer was the same as any other hobby. We are really good in the West at wasting time. Over the last couple hundred years we have made invention after invention to save us time— laundry machines, dish washers, refridgerators, and more— and then most of us found that we didn’t have anything good to do with that time. So we filled it with emotional birds, endless scroll feeds of nonsense, and reality television.
The average American adult spends 3 hours a day watching television. Think about all the idle time you scroll on your phone, all the time you watch YouTube videos, TikTok, Twitter, and more. Now think, of all the books I have read this year the average is 6-7 hours long on Audible. At 1.2 speed— I always listen to books and podcasts sped up— you can complete most of these books in 6 hours or less. The average American adult could cut out television alone, by the stat above, and finish two to three books a week.
The average American commute is around thirty minutes one way. Some of us fill that time with music, some with podcasts, some with idle thoughts, and others with more scrolling on their phones. Back to that average Audible book I have consumed this year, you could complete one book a week on your commute alone.
It is said that we make time for the things that are important to us, but I find most people just settle into wasting time without even thinking about the hours and what could be done over time. Find a book on Audible, jump in the car, hit play, and go to work. Here, I’ll even pick one out for you. Come back and look at my Shelf for another when you’re done.