Tips to help you increase your free time

O time! The biggest problem for all of us. Sometimes it passes impeccably quickly, sometimes it never passes, but in the end it never happens … It is clear how many hours there are in a day. And unfortunately there is no room for more than 24 hours. It was sleep, food, rest, work, duties. Is there a way to increase the time that flows like water? We all think from time to time. Luckily, the time can be increased with a few tweaks. you too I do not have time for anything, the day ends, things do not end, I do not find time If you are stuck with such reproaches, the tips in this article can help you increase your free time. Here are some tips to help save you time:

learn to say no

It can be hard to say no to people, but saying yes to many things you want to say no to because you’re afraid of offending them or being misunderstood can prevent you from managing your time in the best possible way. If you want to increase your time and make more time for yourself, your loved ones, and what you want to do, you must first learn how to say no and learn how to adjust your time to yourself. Don’t worry, rejection doesn’t make you rude, selfish, or inconsiderate.

You may be interested in: The Art of Saying No: How Can We Say No?

Get rid of distractions

Although you spend your time on some work, maybe you spend more time on it than necessary? For example, could distractions be causing a report that you can complete in 2 hours to take up to 4 hours? Phones that won’t turn off, incessant notification sounds, or a mess on your desk may have been running since your time. You can increase your time by devoting as much time to each task as needed; to do this, you need to remove everything that distracts you and, if possible, “everyone” while working on a task.

Take advantage of technology

In the digital world, almost everything can now be done in a virtual environment. You do not need to go to a bank to open an account, or go from institution to institution to obtain an official document. You can access many services online. In this way, you can create extra time for yourself by saving the time you spend on the road and the time you spend at the place where you are going.

Make a meal plan

What should I eat for breakfast, what to cook for dinner, take lunch from home, if you work from home Should I eat out at noon? It is a fact that making meal plans occupies the mind. Especially when it comes to pre-preparing, cooking and cleaning the kitchen, the amount of time most of us devote to eating during the day is quite a lot. So, is there a way to shorten this time? Yes, there are even two ways. The first is to plan, the second is to digest. By making daily or weekly meal plans, you can prepare the foods you need for each meal in large quantities, and you can cut down on the time you spend eating each day by preparing a little more food than you need. Especially if you pre-wash your greens and keep them clean in the fridge, you can freshen up your meals with both healthy and practical salads.

Estimate the waiting time

Think about the time you spent in the morning waiting for a minibus, having a cup of coffee, stuck in a traffic jam in a taxi or on a bus. How much does it cost when you collect? You can save time by turning this waiting time to your advantage. You can retrieve screenshots you’ve been waiting on your phone for a long time, call an old friend you’ve been wanting to call but haven’t been able to, or practice mindfulness by focusing on your breathing. There are many ways to make good use of what seems like wasted time.

Spend time mindfully on social media

Although the development of technology positively affects our lives in many ways, there are also disadvantages. In particular, heavy use of social media can steal our watches without even realizing it. Have you ever wondered how many hours the videos you watch by swiping your finger on the screen cost? Although social media tools are an integral part of our day, they can negatively affect time management if used unconsciously. You can control how much time you spend on what apps on your phone and if you think you’re addicted without realizing it, you can set reminders on your phone and waste the time you spend on your social media accounts more consciously. Thus, you can devote time to more productive activities without wasting a minute.

Break big work into smaller parts

Have you started cleaning the house and your whole day is over? Or do you unconsciously spend hours organizing your wardrobe? By dividing such large jobs into smaller, more manageable pieces, you can save time and find simpler, more practical solutions. For example, instead of spending a whole day or a long weekend cleaning your house, you can set aside 15-20 minutes every day to keep your house in order so that there is no need for general cleaning. Or, instead of trying to fit household chores like wardrobe arrangement, preparing summer/winter clothes, cleaning kitchen cabinets, into one weekend, you can try to stick to this time by allocating specific time periods for such tasks. And you don’t have to spend a whole day to separate all the files on your computer; You can keep all your work under control by creating a weekly or monthly flow, such as 20 minutes a day for photos and 1 hour for important documents.

Make the most of your weekend

Weekends are a blessing for all employees and, of course, students. While we all need to take a break from work and responsibilities, we can often ignore this need. However, as in the story, one must learn to be a forester who sharpens his line.

Two lumberjacks were cutting down trees in the forest. The first man got up early in the morning, started cutting trees, and when one tree fell, he immediately moved on to the next. He does not rest or take time for lunch during the day. In the evenings, he stopped cutting trees a few hours after his friend. The second person rests from time to time and returns home when it starts to get dark. After working at this pace for a week, they began to count how many trees they cut down. It turns out that the second person cut down many more trees. The first was indignant:

“How could this happen? I worked harder. I started earlier than you, I finished later than you. But you cut down more trees. How could this happen? It must have been a mistake.

The second man replied with a smile on his face:

“There’s nothing wrong. While you’ve been working non-stop, I’ve taken a break from time to time and know my axe. A sharp ax cuts more trees with less effort.”

In other words, if we do not “know” ourselves by resting, the time we spend on the work we will be doing may increase, and the efficiency we get may decrease. So if you focus on resting your body and mind on weekends, you will see that you can make the most of your time by working more energetically during the week.

Set your priorities

To-do list or aka to-do list The most important preparation trick is to rank things according to their priorities. You can’t do everything in one day that you don’t need to do, and you can’t do everything at the same time that you don’t need to. The main thing is to know what to do and when. If your work hour is over and your work is not done, then put the rest of the work on your list as a top priority for tomorrow. If you’re working on a project that requires deep concentration, dedicate your morning to it. If your mood drops in the afternoon, you can not clear your head, place work that requires less attention during these hours. Even you will be surprised how much your time increases with the right order.

You may be interested in: How to make an effective and stress-free to-do list?

Use the two-for-one strategy

Yes, both in one; We’re not talking about multitasking. Because while it’s considered a 21st century life skill, according to many studies, doing more than one job at a time, i.e. multitasking, is very detrimental to mental health. The two in one here is focused on increasing time with activities you can combine. For example, you are going for a walk, but you also want to see a friend you love very much. So put coffee in a thermos and enjoy walking and socializing together; get you two. Or let’s say you have two friends who haven’t known each other for a long time. How about meeting them both at the same time instead of meeting them separately? After all, you are what they both have in common. If you and they can get along with you, why can’t they get along?

Learn to ask for support

Know that you don’t have to do everything alone. If you know, remind yourself more often. You can get support from your partner and even from your children in housework; you can ask your colleagues or supervisors how you can divide work between tasks that you cannot do at work; You can turn to the elders and friends of your family for help in doing things that will benefit you. This way you can do the tasks you need to be able to do while spending much more time alone in much shorter time together, and you can do whatever you want when you increase it.

Set temporary blocks

Divide your day into different time zones. Blocks of time are blocks of time that you intentionally schedule and continuously dedicate to a specific event. It could be a project where you need to focus on your work, or it could be a period of deep relaxation where you only care about yourself. If you have a daily, weekly, or monthly calendar that you share with colleagues, mark the times you need to work alone, the hours you dedicate to meetings, group work. And be sure to turn them on. Place blocks to rest your body and mind. This way you can only focus on the activities you have defined and do what you need to do to do it more efficiently and effectively because you won’t be distracted. Except “Work can expand to take up the time allotted for its completion.” says Cyril Northcote Parkinson: “According to Parkinson’s law, you yourself can determine how long your work will actually take, thanks to time blocks.

Manage Your Time Properly

Time management is one of the most important skills in the modern world. Time management is very important for people of all ages, from a child who just went to kindergarten to a pensioner. There is no doubt that we all have jobs, responsibilities to fulfill and, of course, mental health obligations. 😊. When things take so much time, the best thing to do is to learn how to manage time. You can find inspirational time management books in our article Time Management Books: Inspirational Book Recommendations for Productivity, and for more time management tips, you can also check out our articles below:

The forester’s story, which we included in the article, is taken from our website stories.com.