Summary

The article provides strategies to efficiently utilize 40 hours of free time per week by being aware of time-wasting, setting priorities, accepting imperfection, preparing for disruptions, planning over multiple weeks, and making adjustments in emergencies.

Abstract

The web content titled "5 Things to Do to Make the Most Out of Your Free Time" outlines a methodical approach to managing personal time. It begins by breaking down the average weekly schedule, revealing that after accounting for sleep, work, meals, and personal care, approximately 44 hours remain for personal activities. The author suggests that this time is often underestimated and can be optimized by becoming conscious of time-wasting habits, such as excessive social media use. The article emphasizes the importance of setting clear priorities to focus on what is most important, and accepting that not every activity can be performed at peak energy levels. It also advises readers to anticipate and cope with unforeseen events that may disrupt plans, and to distribute activities across several weeks for a balanced approach. Lastly, the author offers a bonus tip to

5 Things to Do to Make the Most Out of Your Free Time

Photo from The Right Amount Of Free Time, Is… | 107.5 Kool FM (1075koolfm.com)

How much time do we have to enjoy life and pursue our goals?

Not so much, huh? We work, we got tired and then we sleep just to wake up and start it all over again. Ever been like this.

Would you please follow me in this simple logic? Let’s think of an average week.

We have 7 days a week, so 168 hours a week.
Each day we should sleep 8 hours, for a total of 56.
If we work 5 days a week, 8 hours a day on average, it is a total of 40 working hours a week.
Let’s take into account about 3 hours a day for meals, 21 total.
Of course some personal basic care, like showers and so on: 1 hour a day, 7.

That’s all you need or have to do to provide for yourself and your family and stay somewhat basically healthy (no malnourishment, no undersleeping). And it takes 124 hours a week, leaving you with “only” 44 hours to use as you please, lat’s say 40 to make it worse.

40 hours! It’s just another work-week available for you! The only difference is that it is fragmented!

Of course, this is just a rough estimate, someone may need to take into account work-home commuting time or, if working from home, meals preparing time. Make your calculations and make them precise.

I bet it is way more than you expected to have.

But we need to manage that time to make the most out of it. That is your time! Your “personal” hours. Fun time. Family time. Work out time. Hobbies, passions, practice, learning time.

I am sure that it appears more than you thought to have just because you waste it somehow. As I did. Here is how I try to limit wasting my time, chances are you may relate.

1) Be aware. Be conscious.

Try to have control over your time. It starts with recognizing all sources of time-wasting. I’ll give you a few examples: sometimes a feel the urge to take a mental break, to spend some minutes doing nothing productive. So I find myself scrolling social media apps for way more time than necessary. I found myself losing 20 minutes of my life while sitting on the toilet with my smartphone. I’m not saying you have to stop it: turning off your brain is good for you from time to time but keep it at its minimum. If you notice you’re wasting time like that, stop at 5 minutes then turn to something more productive, more valuable like reading some pages or lines or whatever you wanted to read o watch a couple of minutes of video courses… How can you notice? There are tons of apps that help you meter your time on your smartphone, even your time on each specific app. You start from there, once you read the first report, you can not help but stay aware.

2) Set Priorities

Quite trivial, but effective. You just have so much time per week, you can not do everything. Choose what is more important to you and give it priority over less important stuff. Don’t necessarily give up on less-priority activities, just know how to distribute them over the week.

3) Everything worth doing is worth doing poorly

You can not give your best every time. Let’s face reality: with all those things you need to do every day, chances are you will not approach your free hours with your full body and mind energies. Accept it. But don’t give up on your favourite activities just because the conditions are not exactly what you would have liked.

4) Take into account disappointment, and don’t let it break you

Sometimes you just don’t manage to do it. You plan, you organize but then life happens and everything falls to pieces. You made peace with yourself and accepted to poorly do something you love, then something unexpected ruins everything. I know the feeling, you’re not alone in it. Just collect the pieces and start over again next time. It will be even more pleasurable when you finally do it. This applies to many other subjects, just learn how to lose as you learn how to win. Back up plans help a lot.

5) Do the first 4 points across the weeks

Don’t limit your thinking and your planning to just one week. Extend your organization over more weeks to cover as many activities as possible and to take into account backups. Consider dedicating the free hours of one week to personal growth, so you don’t interrupt it too much, then the next one to hobbies and passions you don’t want to lose. Or any other combinations you may like.

6) Bonus — Readjust

Don’t rely on this too much since it is just for emergencies. Consider the possibility to readjust the core hours of the calculations we just did. But doing this has a cost and it is not good to do often. Consider taking hours off work when you need to push and reach your goal. Or maybe wake up earlier (go to bed later) for some days. Do something while commuting or prefer some quick lunch over a long prepared one (don’t do it often, processed food IS NOT GOOD FOR YOU!). It is risky, so keep in mind that you should take such decisions only when it is really needed.

DON’T SKIP MEALS THOUGH!