My Life in a Tree Map

How does my life compare to the average American’s? What does my ideal day look like? With data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), Google spreadsheets, and problem-solving skills, let’s conduct some analysis with Tree Maps.

Comparison Analysis

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the average American in 2012 spent 5.4 hours in leisure and sports, 1.3 hours eating and drinking, and 0.5 hours in educational activities. Sleeping alone comprised over 35% of a typical American’s life in 2012. Here are all survey results from the BLS study: American Time Use Survey. How does this compare to my day?

Let’s use a spreadsheet to track how we spend our time and create an effective visual diagram to understand the data. To begin, we list the number of hours engaged in activities broadly classified in three categories: recreation, work, and sleep. Within each category are a variety of sub-categories, which include playing tennis, eating, hiking, shopping, napping, sleeping, studying, and attending classes.

Here is a sample. Seen above, I spent only 6 hours sleeping, 1 hour in leisure and sports, and 1.5 hours eating and drinking. Whereas the typical American spent 69% of his or her time in recreation and sleep, mine is closer to 35%.

How do we effectively organize and visualize this data? Tree Maps! Tree maps resemble a tree by organizing data in a structure of hierarchies (branches).

How to Create Tree Maps

Now it’s your turn! Let’s create tree maps to analyze the following questions: How does your day compare to the average American’s? How does it compare to your ideal day? Below is a 4.5 minute video tutorial on how to create a tree map.

Resources

• Google spreadsheet: Tree Map spreadsheet
• Details on creating a tree map: Google Support