Me & the Boss

Me & the Boss

Sunday, June 16, 2013

Time Management Tools: Create More Free Time Using Two Simple Tips

By Lachlan Haynes


Pop quiz: What is your most valuable non-renewable resource? What is the one thing that you spend all day long every day and yet you can never get any more of it? The answer of course is your time. Do you know anyone that can create more time? I didn't think so (but I was hoping you might!)

One of the most intriguing aspects of time is that humans regularly waste it despite it being a non-renewable resource. Don't we? Most people spend their lives effectively trading whatever time they have for money in order to hopefully create a situation where they have 10 or 20 years of "free time" at the end (i.e. retirement). The great goal in mind is that we get to 60 years old and we get to be free and spend our lives as we please from then on! That's pretty much the deal isn't it? The only problem with this plan is that you will be old when you have created some lengthy "free time" and there's absolutely no guarantee at all that you will make it to 60 - or that you will have enough money to stop time trading even if you get there!

Can this be right? Do humans really just spend their lives filling time in the belief that time will never end? How can this happen? Well it's simple - for some reason we just think life will go on forever. We just think time is basically endless. We think that there is plenty of time to do whatever we want to do. Every day we wake up and there's more time right in front of us. Another 16 hours of time before bed! The problem of course is that this is a completely flawed belief. The only time you really have is right now.

So how do you spend your time? Have you been wasting it? Or do you spend your time wisely? Whilst we now know we can't get more time, we can always save time can't we? We can work faster or we can work smarter and by doing these things we can save time. When we save time we create more free time. We all like free time don't we?

Free time is the best time of all. Free time is time that you can choose how to spend - rather than others telling you how to spend it or you feeling obligated to spend it a certain way. We all want as much free time as possible don't we? We want you to study less and relax more. That's right, we want you to spend less of your time studying, and much more of your time doing whatever it is you love to do! Does that sound like something that would interest you? So what are two things you can start doing today that will create heaps more free time?

Number one: Add lots of breaks to your schedule. If you take regular breaks (one every 30 minutes will work well) you will avoid becoming a brain dead zombie (which means you are more productive) and you will increase your free time. If you take six 10-minute breaks each day that's an extra hour every day just for you. That's seven hours a week. That's 364 hours a year. What could you get done in 364 hours? Hello online fashion business!

Number two: There are certain times that are what we call "dead time". Dead time is time when you're not working towards any of your goals but it's also not free time. It's just dead time. For example, you might be walking the dog, riding your bike, sitting on the bus or in a car (not being driven by you!), or waiting at the train station for the train to come. This is time that isn't used for anything much - so start using it.

Perhaps you could read over some notes, look at some flash cards, do any reading you need to do (not if you are driving!), listen to a recording you made of something you need to learn, practice a speech or watch a video? The point is that we all have a great deal of dead time in our lives. We don't really notice it, it just happens. But it happens every day. The point is that if you can spend 30 minutes of dead time getting ahead, you are 2-3 hours ahead each week. That's worth thinking about isn't it?

We truly hope you value your time. Your time is very important and very valuable. Remember, your time is limited - you can never get it back. Never waste any of your time. Never allows others to waste your precious time. Make every day, make every hour, make every minute, make every second, count. Save as much time as you possibly can so you can spend as much of your time as you possibly can doing the things you love doing. That's what your life is all about isn't it? Good luck.




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