“We All Have 24 Hours a Day”.
Have you heard people say this before? Usually it’s said by someone humble-bragging about how they manage to work 10 hours a day, raise children and run three marathons a year. Of course, they’re usually saying this to someone who can’t seem to find time to work out (or something similar that can easily be dropped off the list of daily activities).
Yeah, we all have 24 hours a day. But, unfortunately, we don’t all have the tools to make the most of those 24 hours.
Let’s look at two extremes.
Julie is a single mother that works full time as a line-worker in an automobile factory. Her two kids are in grade 3 and 6. Her day starts at 6am when she prepares breakfast, lunches and shuttles her kids to before-school care. Julie gets to work in time for a 9 hour shift. By the time the school and work day is done and everyone is back home, it’s usually around 6pm. Just in time to prepare dinner and help with homework. Of course, this assumes that Julie has already gone grocery shopping earlier in the week. By the time dinner and dishes are done, it’s easily 8 or 8:30pm. Exhausted – mentally and physically – Julie now has about 1-2 hours of free time.
Does Julie catch up on some housework? Maybe. Self care? Likely not.
That’s where Julie’s 24 hours goes.
Compare that to Eddie, who is married with two children in grades 3 and 6. Eddie’s wife – Francine – is a marketing consultant and he works as a bank executive. They have a nanny, maid and comfortably hire people to help with household maintenance, like gardening. Their nanny manages the children full time, grocery shops, makes meals and handles school pickup and dropoff. Eddie and Francine work long hours, but often squeeze in some gym time at lunch or go for a run after work. They frequently attend functions after work to network for whatever moves come next.
Notice the difference?
Julie, Eddie and Francine are all equally busy. However, one family has way more sources of help than the other.
Some might blame Julie for her predicament. “She shouldn’t have gotten divorced”, “she should have worked harder and gone to university”, etc. What people fail to grasp is that Julie made the best of her situation. She came from a working class family that didn’t have money for the extra layers of support provided to Eddie and Francine in their youth.
Julie really had no choice but to reduce the burden she placed on her family by working at McDonalds through high school to help with bills. She blasting through community college and then took whatever decent job came first. Then came the children and emotionally abusive husband.
Eddie and Francine, on the other hand, came from upper-middle class families, which themselves hired nannies and maids. Their first jobs were handed to them by their parents’ friends, and were in junior corporate positions. Their parents never needed help with bills and Eddie and Francine could both comfortably educate themselves up to the masters level. While Eddie leveraged his junior corporate jobs into full time work, Francine took a risk and started her own business. If it failed she could always move back with her parents. By the time they married, Eddie and Francine were already getting more than their 24-hour’s worth.
“We All Have 24 Hours a Day”
There are 24 hours in a day, but unfortunately that time isn’t allotted the same way across classes.
If you’re someone who can afford help, count your blessings and realize that you have a huge advantage.
If you’re someone who can’t afford help, I suggest you identify your top 3 priorities in life and allow yourself to leave lesser priorities untended.
