Survey: More than 50% of Americans would use extra hour in their day to do more

Jun 20 2014

Multitasking is the norm of American culture, over scheduling is rampant in households and businesses alike, and the phrase "there are just not enough hours in a day" is a common sentiment for Americans in all walks of life. While the day will remain 24 hours, June 21 marks this year's summer solstice—the longest day of the year, in terms of daylight.

A new poll released today by Heart+Mind Strategies confirms that more than half of Americans would use an extra hour in their day to do more. While the single most frequently offered answer for how to spend an extra hour in the day is "relax" (29%) another quarter of Americans would like to spend time with family (25%), exercise (22%), or pursue a hobby (22%). The full break out is as follows (survey participants were able to select up to two ways to spend the extra hour):

• Relax 29%
• Spend time with family 25%
• Exercise 22%
• Pursue hobby (read, knit, garden, golf, etc.) 22%
• Sleep 16%
• Check something off your to do list 15%
• Spend time with friends 12%
• Household chores 9%
• Entertainment/shopping 8%
• Self improvement 7%
• Volunteer/service 7%
• Work 3%

As experts in human decision-making, Heart+Mind Strategies' values-based research has found "saving time to do other things" to be a dominant gateway to multiple personal values from self esteem and accomplishment to security and happiness. The power of saving time is that time saved can be controlled, multipurposed, and meaningful. The time saver can spend that time doing the things of most importance to them.

One's life stage can significantly change for what time is valued. For example, Americans over the age of 55 are much more likely to want to spend extra time pursuing a hobby (30%), while Americans under the age of 34 would prefer to exercise (29%) or sleep (23%). Meanwhile those aged 35-44 are more interested in spending time with family (38%) than any other age group, and adults over the age of 45 are more likely than their younger counter parts to want to check something off their to do list (21%). For full age breakouts, click here.

It's often been said that time is money. But more importantly, everyone can spend time on the most important, most cherished, most valued things in their life -- things money can often not buy. As it turns out, only three percent of Americans would spend that extra time for a paycheck.

Methodology

This report presents the findings of a survey conducted among a sample of 1,005 adults comprising 501 men and 504 women 18 years of age and older.

The online omnibus study is conducted twice a week among a demographically representative U.S. sample of 1,000 adults 18 years of age and older. This survey was live on June 2-4, 2014.

Completed interviews are weighted by five variables: age, sex, geographic region, race and education to ensure reliable and accurate representation of the total U.S. population, 18 years of age and older. The raw data are weighted by a custom designed program which automatically develops a weighting factor for each respondent. Each respondent is assigned a single weight derived from the relationship between the actual proportion of the population based on US Census data with its specific combination of age, sex, geographic characteristics, race and education and the proportion in the sample.

Respondents for this survey were selected from among those who have volunteered to participate in online surveys and polls. The data have been weighted to reflect the demographic composition of the 18+ population. Because the sample is based on those who initially self-selected for participation, no estimates of sampling error can be calculated. All sample surveys and polls may be subject to multiple sources of error, including, but not limited to sampling error, coverage error, error associated with nonresponse, error associated with question wording and response options, and post-survey weighting and adjustments.