It’s the most common issue business owners face very day. They need more time. They didn’t achieve their goals because they ran out of it. Their days just aren’t long enough, so some of the most important tasks that would move their businesses forward don’t get done.

Outside of the business, they don’t have time to exercise, or to eat properly so grab snack and fast food and come under pressure from family to get home earlier. they can’t find proper focus time for working on the business not in it.

But they’re still on social media.

A report from the Independent in June 2024 reported that the average person in the UK spends one hour and fifty two minutes every single day on social media. 

That’s a mind-blowing amount of time!

For clarity, it’s less than in the US, where the reported figure is two hours and twenty one minutes a day, but it’s still a stunning total.

When you look at the UK figure in more details, and get the calculator out, it gets even worse.

Multiply the daily usage figure to the weekly or, even worse, the annual usage, and the numbers become even more staggering:

• Fifty two hours per week
• Six hundred and twenty four hours per year
• More than fifteen working weeks

Remember that’s an average, so there are people out there that are spending far more time than that scrolling and swiping.

It would be naïve to think that we can avoid social media entirely, as many of us promote our businesses on those very channels. Honestly though, how often have you picked up the phone to post, and lost half an hour because you had a quick look at Instagram, LinkedIN, Facebook, or TikTok?

We’ve all done it, but these figures should be enough to give you pause for thought.

You could do so much with that extra time, even if your usage isn’t as high as these ‘average’ numbers. Remember though, some people will be on the higher end of those or they couldn’t be an average, and that is some serious time loss.

What could YOU do with even half of that time back each day?

You could:

• Exercise more.
• Eat better.
• Take a break every lunchtime to get outside in the fresh air.
• Spend it with family.
• Sleep longer.
• Get that project done that’d been hanging over you.
• Review your Xero reports every week and know rather than guess where your business is going…

You get the idea! There are a lot of things most of us would choose to do if we had more time, and the leakage to social media could be a big step towards a solution. 

So how do you check, and adjust, your usage?

Pop into Settings / Screen time / See all App and website activity on your phone, and you may get a shock! 

The good news though is that once you know what your current usage is, and apply some realism to the numbers, you should be able to reset the dial. 

• App Limits will help; you can overrule them if you need to when they pop up on your screen, but they will help you be more aware of the amount of time you’ve spent each day. 

• Turn off notifications if you can, as they drag you back onto the platforms, but, again, you can decide when and how they come through. Let them come through for direct messages, but be selective and protective of your time. 

For full disclosure, I have a limit set, and do exceed it at times, but I do that consciously, which makes a big difference!

You may well have more time than you thought, so now you get to choose more wisely how you spend it! 

Do let us know what you find when you look at your own stats and let us know if you start to reduce the stats you find, and what you decide to spend that time on.