This week, Spotify sent out their yearly “Spotify Wrapped” email to all its users. Among other things they do, this Spotify campaign is ingenious. It leverages all of the data they have about what each user does on the platform and transforms it into fun, interesting, and even useful insights. Users can see what genres they listen to the most, what artists are really their favorite, and Spotify even creates a personalized playlist, “Tastebreakers”, for each user with new music they might like based on their year in review. One of the most interesting statistics they present, however, is the amount of time in minutes that each user spent listening on Spotify.
I personally spent 10,822 minutes listening to Spotify in 2018, and the year isn’t over yet. That’s 180 hours or just over a week! I was astonished to see how much time I’ve spent listening to Spotify throughout the year, take a look at your own “Spotify Wrapped” here.
The data about how much time I’ve spent listening to Spotify this year caused me to reflect on how I spend my time. This is something that I have actually been reflecting upon for a while, especially in regards to how it compares to how other people spend their time.
Some of my friends shared their own “Spotify Wrapped” stats, and a few of them racked upwards of 66,000 minutes listening to Spotify this year. That’s almost 46 days!
How Do We Choose to Spend Our Time?
The statistics from Spotify are just one of the many data points we have about where and how we choose to spend our time, but they are indicative of certain patterns and habits in our lives. I must note that I do not judge others for spending a lot of time doing one thing or another, I simply aim to illustrate choices and how they can affect our lives.
We spend a lot of time doing necessary but mindless tasks each day. The average American’s commute is just under 27 minutes. That means the average American spends around an hour, at least, commuting each day. Think about all the time you spend getting ready in the morning, commuting, doing daily tasks around the house, and other similar mindless things. Now think about what you do during those times. Those are perfect times to zone out and listen to Spotify. Those are also perfect times to do something more.
This year I realize that I spend a lot of time commuting to and from class and work. I used to listen to music during those times but for a little more than a year I have decided to listen to podcasts and audiobooks during my commute time, and that has made a huge difference to me.
A couple of years ago I came across the following quote by Jim Rohn:
“You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.”
This quote caused me to asses the people I was surrounded by and surrounded myself with. I felt that I wanted to surround myself with people who were going to push me to do more, introduce new ideas to me, and be a force for good in my life. However, I don’t naturally make friends very easily so I struggled with finding people to surround myself with that would help me reach my objectives in life. Then I made a realization. I realized that I have been blessed to live at a time in which, because of the internet, we are not limited to only associate with people in our immediate proximity. I also realized that I spend hours a day on mindless but necessary tasks. I realized that I had the opportunity to spend hours with successful, thoughtful, and amazing people every day if I chose to. So, I started listening to the people I wanted to be like on podcasts and audiobooks.
I am a big believer in the compound effect and I believe that little things add up over time. I have seen how listening to successful and amazing people on podcasts like The Tim Ferriss Show and biographical audiobooks have shaped my thinking in subtle but fascinating ways. I approach problems differently than I used to, I see the world around me differently than I used to, and I have the advice and life stories of countless people to draw from as I face my own life.
Conscientious and Intentional
We use heuristics and mental shortcuts to get through life, it would simply be impossible to do otherwise. However, those mental shortcuts don’t always enrich and enlighten us.
Time is, I would argue, our most precious resources and we should spend it well. It is easy to squander our time away merely pursuing entertainment, especially while doing mindless daily tasks. We can, nevertheless, make the conscious and intentional choice to listen to things that will uplift, instruct, and enlighten us.
I challenge you to be conscientious and intentional in your choices of how to spend your time, especially while doing routine things. Decide to pursue learning. Decide to “spend time” with great people. And if you decide to listen to Spotify, make sure you really are deciding to do so. There’s nothing wrong with listening to music on your commute or while you’re brushing your teeth, but make sure it’s intentional.
Live intentionally.