How to Find More Time for What You Love

“I wish I had more time,” we so often say to ourselves and others, feeling it’s something we can actually possess, despite life telling us the opposite over and over. “How do you spend your time?” we ask, aware of its valuable currency, but unsure how to invest in it. We all get the same amount each day — and we all want more of it. To do more of what we love. To avoid that nagging feeling that we are wasting what little of it we have outside of life’s many responsibilities.

Time waits for no one, as the saying goes. So we have to wrangle it up the best we can. But there are a number of simple things we can do to make it work better for us. Nearly all of us have some bad habits we can break. We can learn to turn what at first feels like sacrifice into a gift to ourselves. Here are some tips to help you reclaim some of that precious time for the things you love.

• Understand what you want the time for: This may sound simple, but there are often several things we wish we were able to do more often. Take the time to make a list of what’s most important to you and then whittle it down to the two or three that you love so much they feel more like needs than wants. This will help you stay focused and motivated.
• Learn to say no: This is a really tough one for most of us. There are so many reasons we say yes to what’s asked of us, and they’re generally good ones. The fear of missing out is real, but you quickly end up overcommitted and only missing out on being present for those two or three things above that you know are more important.(1)
• Cut out time wasters: These can be anything from meetings, emails, the internet, and social media, to disorganization, procrastination, and miscommunication. They create ripple effects throughout our lives, making it easy for us to think have less time to reclaim than we actually do. Take a long, honest look at all the things you spend time on during an average day.
• Stop telling yourself you’re just multitasking: It’s one of the biggest myths going. In reality, it’s rapidly switching from one task to another, and then back again. And every time you make that switch, you pay a tax on both your time and your energy. It’s almost always more efficient to monotask: Focus on one thing and move on when you’re done.(2)
• Give yourself time limits: When you have a lot on your plate, set hard limits. Tell yourself you’ll do something for a specific amount of time and stick to it. Do it with purpose; instead of going from one thing to the next, give yourself windows between the things you have to do, or use those limits to shorten the total time spent on tasks and bank that extra time to have a longer window to spend on something you love.
• Schedule what you love: Busy people have to schedule out their days to meet all their responsibilities, but we don’t schedule time the same way for what we love. Train yourself to think about it like anything else in your day that is necessary. Block off set times and don’t let other things bleed into it.
• Start small: Set aside an hour or two a week for something and make yourself stick to it. When we start small, we’re more likely to stay motivated and see the benefits that will keep us going.
• Find your golden time: For some, it’s the still hours of the morning, for others, that first hour after work, and then there are the night owls. Whatever time you love the most, protect it. Make it yours and keep it that way.