The Realization that Will Change Your Life!

What 5% of your time can do for you

Why is it that the things that become the greatest obstacles for us are actually the least draining of our time and energy? According to recent consumer reports, we spend over 4 hours on our phones — with 50% of that time being spent on social media, messaging, and entertainment apps — and over 3 hours watching TV a day. That’s almost 30% of our day and 45% of our waking hours! And typically, these activities are the reason we don’t have time to do the things that truly enhance our mental, physical, and spiritual wellbeing.

Exactly how much of your day do you think exercise and meditation take up? Go ahead, make a guess…

If you said anything over 5%, then guess again! It turns out the things that are most beneficial for us are actually the least taxing on our day. It’s simply a matter of how we look at things — in other words, it’s a matter of perspective. To give you a clearer idea of how little time wellness routines actually take up in our day, I did some conversions for you:

20-Minute Daily Work Out, Yoga, or a Walk: 1% of our day — .013 to be exact!

5-Minute Morning Intention and Nighttime Reflection: .006 — less than 1% of our day. Definitely, the best bang for your buck if you can’t commit to a 60-minute meditation! A little silence and self-reflection can go a long way for setting the tone of your day.

60-Minute Meditation: 4% of your day.

Intimacy (30–60 minutes): 2% to 4%. Even if you want to go on the longer side and make an evening of it, it’s still only 4% of your day!

Calling a Loved One: Calling your parents or, if lucky enough, grandparents every day for 5-minutes doesn’t even equate to 1% of your day. Less than 1%! Such a simple thing that we can do to truly brighten someone else’s day.

Flossing (5-Minutes): .003% — Not even close to 1% for our oral health a day.

Mindful Eating (30-Minutes): Mindfully eating one meal for 30-minutes is equivalent to only 2% of our day.

Even if you did just one or two of these daily — let’s say a 5-minute morning and evening reflection and a 20-minute workout — that accounts for less than 2% of your day. If you added in a 60-minute meditation on top of those, that still only accounts for under 6%. 6%!!

So the next time you hear the voices in your head telling you that there’s no time to do the things that make you feel good from the inside out, take a moment to stop and remember these statistics and transform your perspective. We don’t have to make drastic changes to have enormous impacts on our daily wellbeing and peace of mind. Simply start by taking back 5% for yourself, and you’ll be amazed by the effects that carry over.

Originally published at simplysmita.com.