If you can?t catch a breath during the frantic daily grind, don?t blame it on not having any free time.
Americans actually have more leisure time, are less rushed, less stressed, and sleep much more than we think we do. According to sociologist John Robinson, or better known as “Father Time” to his colleagues, most people have around 40 hours of free time per week.
Robinson, a professor at the University of Maryland and director of the Americans? Use of Time Project, has been studying how people spend their time for more than 50 years. In 1972, he became one of the first social scientists to collect detailed time diaries of people all over the country. According to his massive studies and research, Robinson tells Fast Company that modern Americans only merely feel like we are working more hours and we also tend to exaggerate about our work hours since the actual hours on the job have been decreasing steadily for the past 40 years.
AMERICANS ACTUALLY HAVE MORE LEISURE TIME, ARE LESS RUSHED, LESS STRESSED, AND SLEEP MUCH MORE THAN WE THINK WE DO.
If this is the case, then why don?t we feel like we have more time and what exactly are we spending our time on? Below Robinson gives us the major findings from decades of time-use and social attitudes research:
1. WE WORK LESS THAN WE THINK WE DO.
Most of us may think that we?re working nonstop, but we?re actually not working as much as we think we are, according to data from the American Time Use Survey (ATUS), which collects time diaries from large national samples by the U.S. Census. Since 2003, the project has collected time diaries from more than 130,000 respondents.
Read more at?FAST COMPANY
