No, You Don’t Have the Same 24 Hours in a Day as Beyoncé
If you know me, then you know that I’ve been slowly removing myself from the world of social media. In 2018, it was Facebook, 2020 was WhatsApp, and last year was Instagram, effectively leaving me with Twitter and Reddit left for personal use, and LinkedIn for my professional side.
In spite of that, it’s fairly obvious to me when I trend starts to build momentum, because I can’t help but notice it everywhere I go. Recently, it’s been this phrase:
“You have the same hours in a day as Beyoncé.”
Other variations of this exact same quote exist, whether it be Beyoncé, Blake Lively, or Ben Stiller (Severance fans, what up?), the message is always the same: What are you doing with our life? Or rather, look at what they did with their time? What’s keeping you from being like that? Why are you sitting on your couch right now doom scrolling your feeds instead of building an empire?
Just think about how you felt when you read that phrase just now? Ultimately, this message doesn’t uplift - it confuses and compares. It shames us into thinking that we’re not utilizing our time as effectively as we could be. And while there may be a certain element of truth to that, at least for myself on occasion, the unintended negative effect is toxic.
So let’s do just that - compare and contrast. Do you actually have the same hours in a day as Beyonce?
You know that something’s gone mainstream when it goes on a mug.
Technically, yes, we all have the same 24 hours. But in reality, the experience between Queen Bey and you or I will be dramatically different. Why?
It’s because she, and Blake, and Ben, have a whole team to support their empires, where as you are just one person.
Let’s say that conservatively, Beyoncé has only 10 people supporting her, from chefs to nannies to housekeepers to publicists, etc. all working full time. That adds up to 88 hours per day (including Beyoncé). Expand that out into a week, they now have 440 hours.
Now, looking at someone working solo, here’s their breakdown. 8 hours goes to sleeping, 10 hours working for someone else and commuting, meaning if we are lucky, we’re left with 6 hours remaining in the day. How we spend those remaining six hours is largely dependant on your family composition and household obligations (cooking, laundry, etc.) as well as any additional extra-curricular you may have.
I know I just said not to do this, but comparatively, you have a fraction of the hours as she does.
That’s why saying “you have the same hours in a day as Beyoncé” is so utterly misleading. It completely removes from the equation just how much additional support she, Blake, and Ben - and others like them - receive in their personal and business lives compared to you, because she isn’t doing her own grocery shopping, folding laundry, cooking dinner, or sitting on hold to pay her bills. You are.
The point is, you don’t have the same 24 hours. In fact, you don’t even have 24 hours to begin with. And that’s okay. Use your time wisely, and just do your personal best.
