Why it is all about the 168 hours

Why it is all about the 168 hours

It is the time of the year where us living in the Northern Hemisphere have to embrace shorter days limiting our access to daylight. A time of the year where also a lot of households use their fireplace for heat and pleasure with the adverse effect on the health of the surrounding neighbors. Not unlike many other decisions being made on both individual, organisational and political level.


That made me think. So allow me to share a bit of personal reflections with you.


On the back of some remarkable years that will be mentioned as changing our trajectory in any future podcast or article. Years that fundamentally changed the ground rules of life. Increased levels of insecurity on both geo-policital, societal, organisational & individual level.

We have been talking about an existentialistic crisis. Culture and identity being under historic pressure. Young generations losing out on social togetherness due to isolation during COVID. Reinforcing loneliness and depression - already at historic highs due to a shift in social and behavioral patterns. Not to mention online and always on. The mobile device as the constant gateway to social life leading to fear of missing out and social pressure as never experienced before. It is not unheard of to enter a classroom in a break between classes at the school of my children and all 22 kids are silently staring on their screen. Sort of individual micro cocooning. This is even a private school with focus on outdoor and nature.

During COVID we saw signifcant channel shifts from "on- to off-trade" and further amplification of online.

We have seen behavioral cocooning more prevalent than ever before affecting social norms, buying patterns and category changes. Part will bounce back - but some changes are sticky.

In the building industry we expected the worst when COVID announced it's intent to going global after attempts to contain it in China proved to be not possible when Northern Italy started reporting positive cases. We discussed and eventually decided to send people home on "voluntary holiday" and shortly after calling all men & women on deck including weekends to work on the inbound demand order pile up.

COVID quickly proved to be the greatest amplifier of home improvement demand as people were trapped in their homes during night and day with limited ways of making use of their disposable income.

Demand for home improvement was as strong as ever with subsequent unheard of price hikes on both material and labor.

The extreme economic boost and the short beautiful spring when countries and continents started to open up after COVID mass immunity was declared - led most businesses to prepare for a high demand environment.

Then a new paradigm set in when Russia started the war by invading Ukraine causing a new and very different geopolitical reality.

Excess capacity in supply chains post the extreme demand period during COVID now leads to over-supply in many areas and recently we have seen global sea freight rates decreasing significantly as a result.

War and instability in Gaza further fuels the Global unrest beyond it being an ubelievable humanitarian tradegy calling for immediate action.

On top of all of the above we also now more broadly start to understand that artificial intelligence - is way beyond the moment of singularity. This inevitably leads us to a revolution that is more significant than the industrial revolution in 1750-1900 and more or less instantly. Not even going to discuss the outlook of quantum computing and real time decryption of data making encrypted data available at the click of a button. Obviously there are also great benefits of advanced computing power, e.g., the ability to mimic lab. studies and thus simulate both biology and chemistry - fields that previously have been immensely costly and time consuming.

We get to a point where human resource management as it was stipulated during the industrial era indeed pops up again. However - there is more nuance to it today than what was the focus back then. We will shortly see large populations of "humans" being available as technology moves in with capacity and capability to do the same job both better, more efficient and much more predictable.

Then we top it all up with demographic changes in China (a study in itself), climate challenges and many countries experiencing masses searching for identity giving air & altitude to right wing populism...

Where does all of that lead us as societies, organisations & individuals? Probably that could be a full thesis - and I am only a viking living in the Northern Hemisphere. A small shout out therefore to us as individuals and the choices we have at hand in an increasingly complex and fast paced world.

One encompassing understanding I have arrived to is that models and concepts we have been working with for decades have become obsolete over night. Instead of giving up we should engage in the new reality to find our pathway to engagement, motivation and meaningfulness.


We know from Simon Sinek that it is not about winning one game but it is about perpetuating the game and gradually make yourself stronger (yourself here can be individual, organizational and societal). We also know from philosophy and voices like Morten Alb?k that it is not about chasing happiness but meaning. We know from Steven Bartlett's amazing podcast with great professionals like Peter Attia and Gary Brecka that longevity of life is about exercise, muscle mass, light, oxygen & magnetism. We know that there is evidence of love and deep connections being catalysts of changes in our gene expression similarly to the strong sense of belonging to a community has.

We also know that "when you find yourself in times of trouble" - then you either seek shelter in religion, in your inner strength, in people you love, in communities or in a combination of those. Today - maybe Mother Mary seems a bit far away and therefore I will stay on the individual level.

We are each dealt a set of cards marked by our DNA or genes. That constitutes part of the opportunity space and the trajectory we are on.

On top of that we each get 168 hours every week that is at our disposal. How we use the hours will be the main determinant for both meaningfulness, momentarily happiness and longevity of life. No matter what set of cards we were dealt from mother nature.

Personally I have with age become increasingly aware of the fact that it for me will have to start with taking good care of myself in terms of my health.

Good health comes in many shapes and forms - and while some you are indeed master of yourself - some you simply have to accept and work with as a departing state.

But as we were also taught in military - when the day comes and you find yourself standing in a mudpit with the enemy close - you will be thankful for having invested time in being prepared, in taking good care of your body, your boots and your weapon. It is maybe a bad analogy as the world is at war - but it is nonetheless true. Preparation is one of the strongest causal drivers of success.

It is very similar if you are speaking about physical and mental health or even health of your relationships.

If we start with yourself - then we know that from the 168 hours you need to find time to sleep, eat healthy, exercise and be with people you love and people who love you in return. Beyond keeping your teeth healthy those four elements are probably some of the most important determinants of longevity and quality of life.

When I challenged a leadership team some years ago on how they were prioritizing their 168 hours - no one could articulate this clearly and therefore we concluded they had outsourced their priority and time spend to randomized habitual "on the go" optimization.

My challenge to them was at least think about it and reflect whether you are indeed using the time according to who you are, who you want to be and where you expect to be taking your life and the ones you love.

My own priority list is clear.

Firstly - I have to take care of my own health - which requires adequate amount of sleep (my biggest challenge as I am a notoriously bad unresty sleeper), healthy diet, and sufficient amount of exercise (both strength and cardio).

Secondly - I need to take good care of the people I love and the people who love me in return. This is about prioritizing time, focus and effort in the engagement. This is increasingly challenged by the pace of the world, SoMe, and always online (both for myself, my family and the friends I truly love).

Thirdly - I am priviledged by having a professional occupation that is meaningful enough to earn its right to come just after my inner circle of love relations. I need to ensure that I am piroritizing my engagement here to ensure that both the people and the organization is thriving and moves towards our vision of better wellbeing for people and planet.

Fourth is sort of a bucket that I rarely get to - and therefore that will have to be a bit more randomized. Examples could be seeing friends that are sort of network friends or old friends that somehow has fallen down in terms of priority.

This small essay came to me when running in the most beautiful autumn weather. Gary Brecka's focus on first sunlight, breathing properly and decharging into the planet with bare feet came to mind. I did two out of three Gary - it was minus 2 celcius - and I did not find a proper spot for bare feet "touch down".

What will you do with the 168 hours you get every week?

Share your reflections and stay healthy!

Best, Anders

#168 #SimonSinek #MortenAlb?k #StevenBartlett #GaryBrecka #PeterAttia #longevity #quality #lovedones #priorities #individual #peopleandplanet #mothermary #timesoftrouble #singularitymoment #weekendreflections

B?kgaard Christian

Senior Director, EA to CEO at VELUX

1 年

Great, bold and inviting read, Anders. Find the moments that give back energy in order to thrive, perform and be the best version of yourself for others.

Tobias Vangsgaard Wind

Vice President BD, Sales & Marketing, Fertin Pharma A/S

1 年

Inspiration Anders. Just tried to model the 168 hours in excel. Some calibration to be done still. Pursuit of ‘ikigai is never ending! Take care…

Lisa M.

HR Business Partner @ VELUX | MCIPD

1 年

Great read Anders, thanks for sharing! Your reflections are something which resonate with me and as each year passes I find myself narrowing down how I spend my 168 hours. Trying to navigate the past 2yrs sonce i lost my dad, I have learned that I will prioritise what I want from my life, career and relationships and definitely I'm spending each of those minutes and hours on what matters to me most!

Christian Wagner

Senior Vice President Advanced Material Technology at VELUX

1 年

Good thoughts Anders Dam Vestergaard. Thanks for sharing. Time is precious and you cannot be anything for others if you dont take care of yourself.

Henrik Seeberg

Director, Global Commercial Excellence at VELUX

1 年

Thanks for sharing Anders. First, good to see that you are already preparing for DHL though I still aim to beat your time. Secondly, great reflections on a beautiful Autumn day. The following quote - (heard it from a ski patroller called Hannah) resonates quite well with me in my mid-forties. "You seldom rise to the occasion, but instead fall back on your preparation and training". My learning in life is always be deliberate in the choices you make, because over time they define who you are, and then always prioritize your loved ones and your physical and mental health. That said there is no one size fits all recipe to follow. Just remember to be deliberate and mindful.

要查看或添加评论,请登录

社区洞察

其他会员也浏览了