How Many Seconds In A Day And How To Utilise Them All

Being productive can feel like the hardest thing in the world. Not only is it hard to motivate yourself to actually get work done, but there are so many other things that need to get done too.

Have you done your washing?

Have you cooked dinner?

Have you washed the floors?

Done the dishes?

Watered the garden?

Grocery shopped?

Made the bed?

Filled the car with gas?

Washed the car?

The list keeps growing and it's endless.

On top of all the house and car chores, you now have your writing to add.

Create the characters.

Create the plot.

Write the story.

Edit the story.

Edit the story again.

Get beta readers, editors, a cover designer.

Edit again.

Marketing.

Publish.

Write all over again.

There is a lot to do and only 86,400 seconds in a day. To get everything done, we need to know how to utilise all these seconds.

Let's say you get a full 8 hours of sleep every night - that's already 28,800 seconds used up everyday.

That leaves us with 57,600 seconds.

I'm going to assume you work a full time job. I'm going to say that uses 10hrs a day for getting ready, transport too and from as well as actually working the job.

That's 36,000 seconds on work.

We are now left with 21,000 seconds.

I'll be nice and give you 2.5hrs for dinner and clean up. That's 9,000 seconds.

I'll give you another hour for random chores around the house. That's 3,600 seconds.

You are now left with 9,000 seconds.

I'll give you 30mins to get ready for bed. A 15min shower, 5 mins of getting changed, 2mins to brush your teeth and 10mins of god-knows-what-else. That's 1,800 seconds on bedtime.

Now you have 7,200 seconds to focus on your writing. That's 2hrs in total.

The 7,200 seconds could be used to - write a blog; write a page in your novel; write 1 email in your marketing campaign; write 1 character profile; edit 1 page... There are endless possibilities.

A lot of writing pros will suggest spending only 300 seconds on your writing a day (5 mins), to keep it manageable and help you build the habit up. Having the habit of sitting down to write is arguably the most important part of writing. Even you don't add any words to the page, you at least know you'll be showing up everyday. And that's the first step in writing.

How are you using all the seconds in the day?