We all have the same amount of hours in the day.

This line has been coming up a lot lately in social media—usually along the lines of “You have the same amount of hours in the day as <super successful famous person>.” It doesn’t seem to matter who that super successful famous person is who fills in the blank—as long as there’s someone!

At any rate, this line has really been resonating with me this past week. It acts as a good reminder that we can, if not necessarily do it all, still accomplish rather a lot (assuming resource accessibility and some degree of privilege). No, we don’t all have assistants around to do things for us, and we don’t all have thousands upon thousands of dollars at our disposal, and we don’t all have the same privileges, by a long shot. But it reminds me of when people have small children: somehow, even when both parents have jobs outside of the home, they end up being able to spend time with their kids, do house renovations, socialize, and have hobbies. And I’m always floored by that, because I’m looking around my house going, “goodness, I’ve owned this condo for five years and I still haven’t gotten around to painting the walls.” Arguably, I have a lot more time on my hands than people with small children to accomplish a simple task like painting the walls!

My point is, 99% of us could stand to manage our time a little better. And to me, that’s what the phrase “we all have the same amount of hours in the day” is about. I’m not discounting the privilege aspect of this phrase, because privilege is definitely a part of it—but if we are assuming some degree of privilege, and if we are acknowledging that most of us could manage our time better, then to me, this phrase is really inspiring.

I’m not generally one to have mantras taped up around the house, but we all have the same amount of hours in the day keeps coming back to me. So earlier this week, I wrote it down and, naturally, inserted a successful famous person in there:

I knew pretty much nothing about Ivanka Trump until last week, when I read this article. There are plenty of things that she says and does in general that I don’t agree with, but I admire her greatly for her drive and accomplishments (and I really like the concept of her Women Who Work campaign). So for that reason, she’s on my sticky note to inspire and motivate me this week!

What about you? Whose name would you insert into the line “___ has the same amount of hours in the day as you do”? Is there a phrase that is inspiring and / or motivating you this week? Is time management something you could improve on, too? Share in the comments section below!