Charles Huntzinger
Professor Pitas
RPTM 120
Documenting your days activities may not seem to be the most interesting way to
spend a few hours of your month, but it certainly provides you with data points that may
influence your future behaviors and activities. The three days that I documented my time,
provided data to analyze my personal, work, and leisure activities, coupled with my interactions
with others, and my emotional and stress levels. My reflection on these activities is provided
within this paper along with an analysis of the overall use of my time, my perceptions on the
time famine and time deepening, my emotional and stress variables, and the impact on my
Overall, I used my time in the following categories: 13.5 hours for work, almost 35 hours
were for personal leisure and 15.5 were on leisure activities over 3 days. The most surprising
thing about my time use was the amount of leisure time that I actually have, compared to the
amount I feel like I have when I look at my overall day. I was surprised my leisure time only took
up 22% of the three days, or 15.5 hours, when I expected to have had more than that. The
category that took up most of my time was personal at 50%. I did expect that category to take
up the most amount of time because it includes my sleep time, as well as the time spent doing
personal chores and everyday living activities. Ironically, there was not much difference
between the two week days and the weekend day that I chose. The weekend day occurred
during our golf season. That day would be much different in terms of my activities if we were
not in season. Having said that, my two week days looked similar in activities to that particular
weekend day. As discussed in class on September 29th on leisure and physical health, I am both
similar and different to the population. I am different from the population in that I achieve
more than the average amount of physical activity per week; however, I am similar in the 10.5
Huntzinger 3
hours of screen time spent daily (Pitas, 2017, p.11). I spend the most amount of time watching
TV as my leisure activity, while almost 80% of my leisure time involves technology. Of the
leisure time I had during these three days, which accumulated to 14 hours, I spent 11.33 hours
The topic of time famine means the real or perceived lack of free time (Pitas, 2017, p.9).
The definition of time deepening is the strategies that emphasize getting more done in the
same amount of time, without fully experiencing any of the activities (Pitas, 2017, p.21). I do
not often experience time deepening in my daily leisure activities because I am fully engaged
and I allow ample time to experience them. However, when it comes to my work activities, I
tend to cram them all together in a shortened amount of time. These activities include studying
for exams, writing a paper, or working on a project which I tend to underestimate the required
amount of time to complete the activity and thus I experience time deepening. As for time
famine, I experience this perception in my leisure activities. This time diary demonstrated to me
that roughly 25% of my day is spent in leisure activities. I never thought that I had six hours per
day to spend on leisure activities because so much of my day is spent on personal activities in
classrooms, practice, and chores. This time diary helped me understand time famine and how I
can avoid this perception. I now understand there is always extra free time as long as the tasks I
need to complete are done in the time required, not taking an excessive amount. I can also map
out my day better so I know exactly how long my tasks should take, so I know how much free
subjectively experienced as a strong feeling usually directed toward a specific object and
Huntzinger 4
n.d.). The definition of stress is the pervasiveness in our lives. It is our response to events that
disrupt, or threaten to disrupt, our optimal level of functioning (Pitas, 2017, p.6). Throughout
most of the days in my phase I recordings, my emotional levels were fairly consistent, usually
ranging between -2 and 2. My stress levels were typically less than 5, other than a few isolated
occurrences. Overall, my stress levels were average and my emotions were also average. I
experienced the most stress during these three days when I had to take a class quiz in an
unfamiliar setting in a short period of time. I also experienced higher stress during golf
qualifying activities. I am least stressed during my leisure activities which include watching TV. I
have a few instances on both week day and weekend days that influence my stress levels.
During the week, it is normally classwork related, and on the weekends, it is normally golf or
sport related. I experience more positive emotions when I am with my teammates, at our
October 22, 2017, there is a relationship between leisure and our emotional health. Leisure
activities can positively change our negative emotions. There are three pathways for a change.
The three pathways include intervention, outcomes, and landscapes. An intervention is used to
intentionally change your emotional attitude such as going for a quick run. Participation in a
moderate to long-term activity, such as weight loss or improved fitness, can also improve ones
emotional health. Finally, the actual place where the activity occurs can also change ones
The definition of health is the soundness of body and mind; freedom from disease or
that people are living longer (around 80 years on average) than they were 50 years ago and
their health concerns are now focused on chronic conditions instead of infectious diseases
(Pitas, 2017, p.6). In the words of Ren Dubos, health is primarily a measure of each persons
leisure choices support my health in that I am physically active for more than 5 hours each
week, either with practice or working out. Being able to work out daily and eat balanced meals
keeps me fit and in a positive state to be successful. Being physically active each day allows me
to get stronger and build a foundation in which I can live a healthy life down the road. If I were
Instead of watching TV, I could replace it with more exercise or practice, or something more
stimulating for my brain, like doing extra school work or solving a puzzle, problem, or riddle.
In conclusion, most of us have a perception about how our day is spent. While many
believe perception is reality, this activity was very informative and proved that my perception
of my time use was quite different than actual. Preparing a time diary gives you real data that
can be used to understand your current activity behavior, modify it for changes to positively
impact your emotions and well-being, but also encourage you to change patterns to reduce
Works Cited
health. (n.d.) Miller-Keane Encyclopedia and Dictionary of Medicine, Nursing, and Allied Health,
Seventh Edition. (2003). Retrieved November 16 2017 from https://medical-
dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/health
Pitas, Nicholas. (2017). LEISURE, PHYSICAL ACTIVITY, AND HEALTH. Personal Collection of
Nicholas Pitas, Penn State University, State College, Pennsylvania.
Pitas, Nicholas. (2017). LEISURE, STRESS, AND COPING. Personal Collection of Nicholas Pitas,
Penn State University, State College, Pennsylvania.
Pitas, Nicholas. (2017). TIME DEEPENING AND FAMINE. Personal Collection of Nicholas Pitas,
Penn State University, State College, Pennsylvania.