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Dad’s Great Advice for Teens by Marc Fienberg (Book Excerpt)


Great Advice #3

“Spend Your 44 Hours Wisely”

 

Spend your free time on the things that will bring you lasting happiness, not just things that are fun in the moment.

 

“I don’t have time for that.”

I hear it all the time, from teens and adults alike. But really? You don’t have time for “that,” whatever “that” is?

Allow me to convince you otherwise.

I’m not great at math, but with 24 hours in a day, and 7 days in a week, that gives you 168 hours to spend as you please every single week of every single month of every single year of your life. This is true regardless of your race, religion, sexual orientation, where you live, how much money you have, what country you come from, how smart you are, how pretty you are, or how nice you may be. Time is the great equalizer; we are all given the same amount of time each week no matter what our lot is in life.

Sadly, if you’re one of those human beings that need to sleep every night, then you lose a bunch of those 168 hours. But even after accounting for eight hours of sleep a night (if you’re lucky), that leaves you with 112 hours each week.

“But school!” you say. “What about school?”

Even after accounting for eight hours of school every weekday, that leaves you with 72 hours each week.

“Yeah, but I’ve got homework. Soccer practice. Lots of chores. And my memes! I love memes! I gotta have time to look at my memes!”

Even after accounting for four hours a day of some mandatory obligations you have to take care of, and of course, those all-important memes, that leaves 44 hours each week.

And 44 hours every week is A LOT of time.

All of this makes the statement, “I don’t have time for that,” a little hard to believe. While you have the physical need to sleep, and an obligation to go to school and do homework, you have control over how you prioritize and spend those remaining 44 hours in your week. So rather than saying, “I don’t have time for that,” a better, more accurate statement would be, “I don’t want to spend my time doing that.” That at least acknowledges that you have control over how you prioritize spending your 44 hours. And once you realize that you do have control over how you spend your 44 hours, make sure you spend them wisely.

Keep track of how you’re spending your 44 hours, because what you’ll find is that, day by day, week by week, year by year, those hours will slip away from you.

You’ll spend those hours on things that are easy to spend them on, the most common one being consuming television, videos, or social media. It’s relaxing. It’s enjoyable. And it’s easy, so why not? You deserve some downtime, don’t you?

You do! But keep track of how much downtime you give yourself. The average teenager spends about three hours watching television each day. That brings your 44 hours down to 23. And the average teenager also spends about three hours on social media each day. Sadly, that leaves you with just two measly hours each week.

So how are you supposed to spend your 44 hours? How are you supposed to think about your 44? It’s not easy, but I’ve found that the best way to think about how you want to spend your 44 hours is by separating them into two main categories: “Today Me” hours and “Tomorrow Me” hours.

Today Me hours are hours you spend making yourself happy now—relaxing or enjoying the moment, giving you instant short-term gratification. They are hours spent on things like watching videos, consuming social media, napping, and of course, looking at memes!

Tomorrow Me hours are hours you spend that might not be quite as relaxing or enjoyable in the moment (although they can be), but that will make you happy over the long term, for weeks, months, years, or a lifetime. They are hours you spend doing things like studying for an algebra test, practicing the guitar, or learning how to create your own memes!

Today Me hours make Today Me pretty darn happy, but kind of upset Tomorrow Me, who never really gets to enjoy those hours. Tomorrow Me hours frustrate Today Me, who could be having a much better time, but make lots of Tomorrow Me’s happy.

There’s room for both types of hours in your day—things you do just to enjoy the moment and recharge your batteries, and things you do that are a bit of an investment for future enjoyment. It’s obviously very easy to spend your Today Me hours, but a bit more effort and discipline is required to spend Tomorrow Me hours. If you need help motivating yourself to spend Tomorrow Me hours, just try to remind Today Me that, even though they might not be so happy right now, Tomorrow Me is going to be really grateful and happy for the Tomorrow Me hours you’re spending today.

Keep track of how many of your 44 you are spending on Today Me hours, watching something, looking at someone else’s creations, relaxing, bringing yourself instant gratification and enjoyment, but no meaningful benefit once the television show or YouTube video is over. And keep track of how many of your 44 you are spending on Tomorrow Me hours, helping you learn something, create 22 Dad’s Great Advice for Teens something, connect with somebody, reach your goals, become a better person, or assist somebody else in becoming a better person. Forty-four hours a week, every week of the year, every year of your life, leaves you LOTS of time outside of sleep, school, and homework to do other things. Use that time wisely, on things that will bring you lasting happiness, and even though Today Me won’t have quite as much fun, Tomorrow Me will thank you.

 

About Author Marc Fienberg

Marc is an author, an entrepreneur, a life and business coach, and an award-winning screenwriter, director, and producer with more than a decade of filmmaking experience. Marc’s feature film, Play The Game,” starring Andy Griffith and Doris Roberts, was the third most successful independently distributed domestic feature of 2009. Marc’s film, “Sunday Morning” premiered at a Los Angeles film festival, was quickly picked up for distribution, and premiered nationwide on the Comcast network. In addition to many other awards, Marc’s script for the dramatic thriller, “Facebook Revolution” was chosen as one of the top 30 out of almost 6000 scripts in the most prestigious screenwriting competition in the nation, the Nicholl Fellowship.

Prior to starting Story Films, Marc had a successful track record developing and marketing new businesses and products at high-tech start-up ventures and Fortune 500 companies, including Microsoft and Fruit of the Loom.  Marc earned a B.B.A. in marketing from the University of Michigan, and an M.B.A. from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.

Marc’s book, “Dad’s Great Advice for Teens” is the first in a series of more than two dozen “Dad’s Great Advice” books in the works including, “Dad’s Great Advice for College Students,” “Dad’s Great Advice for New Drivers” and “Dad’s Great Advice for Everybody.”

For more information, visit  www.GreatAdviceGroup.com.

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