In this module you will
- Calculate your remaining working hours at your current pace.
- Write one sentence naming what you will no longer spend those hours on.
The idea
A daily practice is a short, repeated set of decisions made before the day makes them for you: one habit worked on deliberately, one frog eaten first, the vital few protected, and every quarter hour accounted for.
The original Compass course begins with Time = Life because time is the one resource that cannot be raised, borrowed or recovered. The working year is 52 weeks × 5 days, minus paid time off and paid holidays; multiply by the hours you work each day and by the years left until you stop.
The number is uncomfortable on purpose. Every later module spends some of it.
Step by step
Why A real number changes behavior; an estimate does not.
Enter your own age, intended finish age and working week in the arithmetic below.
Why A refusal written down is easier to keep.
Complete the sentence: “Given that number, I will no longer spend my hours on ______.”
Worked example: the CEO
The CEO in our worked example is 52, intends to stop full-time work at 62, takes 20 days off and 10 holidays, and works 10-hour days: 10 × 230 × 10 = 23,000 working hours left.
Their refusal: “I will no longer spend my hours rescuing escalations that have a named owner.”
Your sheet
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Working year = 52 weeks × 5 days − 20 PTO days − 10 holidays = 230 days. Remaining working hours: 23,000.
Exercise
- Run the arithmetic with your own numbers.
- Write the number where you will see it tomorrow morning.
- Write your one-line refusal.
Original tools
- Open the original Time = Life Calculator (on compassperformanceinc.com, opens in a new tab)The full calculator, with lived, worked, slept and remaining time.
Sources and attribution
- Compass Time = Life and the working-year formula are Compass material from the original 80/20 Daily Time Management course.