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What will you do with your 1,000 hours of leisure time this year?
I know I sure as hell won’t be setting goals for it
I recently read an article published in Forge called What Will You Do With You 1,000 Hours? In sum, the article states the average working American has anywhere between 1,000–2,000 hours of ‘leisure’ time each year. I wise use of that time allows us to achieve many great goals — such as business level proficiency in a new language, running a marathon, or writing a novel.
The key takeaway from the article is that big goals require you to only focus on one at a time, so you must budget your 1,000 hours of leisure time. Don’t waste them on TV watching or other useless things.
While learning a new language or running a marathon are both admirable goals, and I don’t see the article as inherently negative, there is something to be said for allowing yourself to spend your ‘leisure’ time actually doing something that is…well, leisurely.
What does leisure time look like?
My main source of income is from a 32-hour a week job. Due to Covid situations, I am fortunate enough to live with my partner’s family, and his mother insists on doing the cooking and cleaning. So you could say, I have far more leisure time than your average working American.
The global pandemic has afforded me the ability to have many personal goals to tackle during the hours I have outside my main job. I earned my 200-hour yoga teaching certification, took a 20 hour SQL course, and semi-started my own side business. I also help my partner with his side business, maintain my finances, check in with my mother once a week, etc.
But none of the time used for those things is anything I would call “leisure” time. Studying, writing essays, learning to code, and building a website are all very interesting and enjoyable, but they are not leisurely activities by any stretch of the word.
Merriam-Webster defines leisure as “freedom provided by the cessation of activities especially : time free from work or duties.”
