The Time Audit

It kills excuses not to exercise or do anything else that improves your life.

Post Summary

• Don’t have time for your health? Run a time audit.

• The time audit will help you discover time for exercise, meditation, food prep, family (or anything else you feel you don’t have time for).

• It’s simple and brutal—and the numbers don’t lie.

Housekeeping

• This post, like all Monday posts, is free for all subscribers.

• But only Members get full access to all of Two Percent. Read about the benefits of Membership here. Become a Member:

• ICYMI: I’m back from my long hike of the Southwest. I did a live recap of the hike on Friday. Watch it here. I covered topics like the weight I lost, gear, epiphanies, pack weight, the power of marshmallow Peeps, and more.

• Check out our partners and access discounts at the bottom of the post.

  • My favorite piece of home health gear: Jaspr air purifiers.

  • The world’s healthiest protein: Maui Nui Venison.

  • The supplement company I trust: Momentous Nutrition.

Audio/Podcast Version

• Listen on your preferred player here.

The post

I’m back from my 850-mile hike of the Hayduke Trail. I had a lot of time to think while walking long, solitary stretches of desert.

I thought often about time. It’s our most precious resource, but we could all be better at using it.

I recalled a fun exercise I learned over a decade ago, when Men’s Health magazine sent me to a curious gym called Gym Jones.

Gym Jones rose to fame training the famously fit actors in the movie 300. It was a nondescript warehouse gym in Salt Lake City with the energy and intensity of a nuclear bomb. I’ve never exercised harder than I did at Gym Jones when the gym was at its peak.

Gym Jones was founded by the famed mountaineer and fitness mind Mark Twight. Another brilliant fitness mind, Rob MacDonald (AKA Bobby Maximus), led the gym’s day-to-day training.

I was sitting at one of their weekend seminars when the topic of finding time to exercise came up. Rob believes—and I agree with him—that everyone can get really fit if they exercise at least five hours a week.

A hand shot from the crowd as Rob covered this. A middle-aged man named Kevin piped up, “I don’t always have time to exercise five hours a week. What should I do?”

At Kevin’s comment, Rob found a teaching opportunity. So began a blunt-force exchange.

The lesson is useful for finding time to exercise. It can also help you find time for anything else (family time, hobby time, volunteering time, etc).

The Time Audit

Rob—6’4”, 250 pounds of muscle—called Kevin to the whiteboard.

Rob wrote 168 in big black letters on the whiteboard.

“168 happens to be the number of hours in a week,” Rob said. Then he began asking Kevin question after question about his habits and the time they require.

• Rob: “How many hours a week do you work?”

• Kevin: “40.”

• Rob: “OK, not bad. But I’ll give you 50 hours just in case you have a week here or there where you have to work overtime. I’m also going to give you 56 hours a week for sleep. That’s eight hours a night. You probably don’t get that, but you should.”

Rob added 50 and 56 and wrote 106 on the board below 168.

The difference between the two numbers prompted Kevin to blurt out what else he did with his time.

• Kevin: “I also have to commute to work. I also have to grocery shop. I have to spend time with my family.”

• Rob: “No problem. I’ll give you 10 hours a week of commuting—that’s 2 hours five days a week. You probably don’t commute that long, but I’ll give it to you just in case. Now I’ll give you 4 hours a week of grocery shopping and 20 hours a week to spend with your family. Fair enough?”

• Kevin: Fair enough.

The math: 140.

Rob wrote 140 on the board and said, “168 minus 140. I just found 28 hours you don’t have. Still don’t have time to exercise five hours a week?”

I talked to Rob afterward, and he told me:

“The most common excuse I hear from people is ‘I don’t have enough time to work out.’ When people tell me that, I run them through the time audit.

We usually find anywhere from 10 to 36 hours. Most people can get really fit exercising 5 hours a week. They usually have it—it’s 3 percent of a week.

If a person chooses not to use some of those 10 to 36 extra hours for their health, that’s totally fine with me. But I just want people to realize it’s usually not a question of ‘don’t have time’—it’s usually a question of time management. I also understand that some days things come up and a person really may not have time to exercise that day. But over a week, most people do have the time.”

Rob doing pullups by the infamous whiteboard.

This exercise leans on the power of observation and measurement.

When we measure, we often identify silly things we do that interfere with what we want to improve. So we naturally start doing something smarter instead. And it works in many domains. For example, research has discovered:

• People who log food diaries lose more weight, thanks to awareness from measurement (source).

• Analyzing drinking behavior reduced the amount of drinking among people who self-identified as over-drinkers (source).

• Students who recorded their study habits studied more deliberately and consistently and got better grades (source).

• People who monitor their behaviors typically have healthier habits (source).

Read more on why it works and a three-step system to use it here.

We can’t declare that we don’t have time for something if we don’t actually know how we spend our time—and knowing comes through measurement.

So measure your time. Fill out this time audit and let us know how it goes in the comments.

Audit Your Time

• Work: ______ Weekly Hours

• Sleep: ______ Weekly Hours

• Commute: ______ Weekly Hours

• Errands: ______ Weekly Hours

• Family Time: ______ Weekly Hours

• Other (Church, Hobbies, etc): ______ Weekly Hours

Add the above numbers. That’s your “Total Hours.”

Now do this equation: 168 - (Total Hours) = Weekly hours you have left.

Use those leftover hours in a way that helps you.

Have fun, don’t die, numbers don’t lie.

-Michael

Two Percent is partnered with

Jaspr air purifiers

Air quality is highly linked to health—and no one talks about it. I think using a Jaspr is one of the easiest things you can do to improve your health—all you have to do is plug it in and remember to breathe. Having a Jaspr in my room seemed to improve my sleep, and I love watching the Jaspr in our kitchen kick on and filter our air after my frequent cooking disasters. Get a discount here.

Maui Nui Venison

Maui Nui harvests the healthiest meat on planet Earth. 100% wild, ethically-harvested, and delicious. Maui Nui is offering Two Percent readers a limited collection of my favorite cuts and products, like the Sugar-Free Peppered meat stick. Supply is limited because axis deer are wild. Head to mauinuivenison.com/EASTER to secure access.

Momentous Nutrition

Momentous made me feel good about supplements again. They’re researched back and tested for purity because Momentous has contracts with most pro sports leagues and the US Military. My picks: Essential Plant Protein + Daily Multivitamin. Use discount code EASTER for 15% off.