Where Does the Time Go?

Sometimes, when I’m at work, and I time-stamp a document of some sort, I occasionally ask myself this very question. Not to suggest that time necessarily flies, but it can get away from us if we’re too caught up in our lives that we’re oblivious to the passage of time. Maintaining hobbies and interests outside of your professional life can not only give your train of thought a welcome respite from the daily rigors of the entertainment industry, it can also help to balance out your life and perhaps mold a more well-rounded you!

Next time you come home straight from work via the eating establishment you grabbed your take-out from, plop yourself on the couch, and then milk your TiVo for all it’s worth until bedtime, ask yourself if there’s more you could be doing with your free time. There is a plethora of rewarding activities that can make you feel more happy or productive so that when the year comes to an end, you won’t feel like it just flew by without having gained anything this year.

Yoga – Super for stress reduction, fantastic for flexibility, and can also help both women and men avoid injuries down the road. Classes can go for as low as $5 a session, but since there are various disciplines of yoga, it is important to properly research which one is right for you.

Walk/Jog/Run/Hit the Elliptical Cycle – Another great stress relief, this can be done either in the great outdoors, or on a treadmill. Endorphin release coupled with a trimming of the waistline can make anyone feel productive, regardless of whether it happens to be at 6am or 10pm! HINT: Find a treadmill with a TV, and spend 30 minutes on it while your favorite sitcom is on. You’d be surprised how fast a half-hour on a Lifecycle will fly by! Make a habit of it, and you’ll be surprised how quickly the inches and pounds can shed!

Dance! This is as much for the fellas as for the ladies. When you’re in your formative years, formal dancing (i.e. salsa, ballroom, swing, etc.) seems like such a chore to learn, and who has the time to dance at a club when you could be schmoozing with potential power brokers instead? We all know that there are certain clubs we prefer to dance in versus clubs we’re more likely to simply socialize in. Keep them separate but equal, as you wouldn’t want anyone you know to see you swing-dance until you’re actually good at it! Learning to dance when you’re young is much easier compared with trying to take it up when you’re older and grayer. It’s fun, it’s social, it’s good exercise, and it can enhance anyone’s aesthetic appeal!

Take a Class, any class – Remember that elective in college you wanted to take, but the class wasn’t a requirement for your major, so you blew it off? Instead of coming home on a weeknight and vegging in front the telly for four hours, why not think about that one subject you’d like to learn more about? It could be anything: pottery, cooking, blaxploitaiton theory, or a voiceover training class. Nighttime extension classes are available at your local university, community colleges, as well as in The Learning Annex magazine. If you work for a large company, there is a chance you can get your employer to pay for your class if you can present it to your superiors judiciously.


We spend so much time as assistants making sure our boss’ lives are up and running smoothly that we often forget about our own lives, and how to enrich them. While it’s always important to work hard at your job to elevate your career, it can be equally fulfilling to have some activity, hobby or class to look forward to after you leave your desk at night. Otherwise, the mundane routine of eatsleepworkeatsleepworkeatsleepworkeatsleepworkeatsleepwork can not only get mind-numblingly redundant, but can also start to eat at your soul sooner than you think!