There are a lot of useful habits that you might learn. One of the most interesting ones to me is being intentional about your time. We have only 24 hours of time during the day. When you do not count the time you sleep you have around 16 hours per day. Everybody has the same amount. Yet some people can do a lot more than others. How is this possible?
They prioritize. They know the value of time.
Value of time
How much is your time worth? You probably haven’t even wondered about this. The time you spend now on the most important things might benefit you a lot in the long term. Look at the ROI of your activities during the day. Some of them really give you a lot of profit. Like exercising for 15 minutes a day. It has huge leverage over time. Or writing – it also creates authority in your space.
What if the hour of your time is worth $100, $500, or even $1000? How much does it change your point of view?
Do you think I am overvaluing your time?
I don’t think so. I think it is a fair price.
Let’s say you spend 200 hours writing a book. How much profit can it give if your book becomes the best seller? Or how much is worth the time you take to learn new skills on the course you take?
This calculation is to be used for work only of course. Your time to spend with your close ones or to relax is non-negotiable. But still, in this part, you can choose to do great stuff that you actually enjoy instead of mindlessly scrolling through your Facebook feed or watching videos on YT that you don’t even want to watch and you feel terrible about watching.
Why Should You Even Bother?
“Without the rules, we quickly become slaves to our passions – and there’s nothing freeing about that.”
… as Jordan Peterson writes in his book “12 Rules for Life”.
So not to do things that we later regret we must apply the correct strategy and be mindful about our choices. We can do this by applying some rules and tactics in our lives.
We as humans are the only species in the world that discovered time. That means we can sacrifice something for now so we can get what we want in the future.
Therefore we should come up with a strategy on how to execute our dreams – despite our shortcomings, our bad days, and weak willpower.
Instead of mindlessly doing things we do not even enjoy like mindlessly watching YT videos, scrolling through Facebook, Instagram, or whatever your habits are for automatically spending free time, you can choose to do:
a) productive work
b) spending time with your family and close ones
c) taking care of your health
d) high-quality fun time
Do you want to live your life fully, with no regrets, achieve your biggest goals, and make most of every moment of your life?
If so, then apply some tactics.
Tactics
So, how to make sure you are deliberate about your time for the whole day? I list down all of the tactics that might be useful for you However choose only those that work for you. Some might work for you while others might not. Test, test, test.
- Have all your tasks already planned the night before according to the importance and your joy the day before
Simply sit down in the evening and plan what tasks you need to do the next day. To do this it is best to first make a weekly plan.
- Do 20-minute workout
- Clean up your room for 15 minutes
- Work for 30 minutes on improving your CV.
Be specific. It helps a lot.
- You can use a calendar – for example Google Calendar to plan your next day with blocks of time
With a calendar, it is super clear and easy to plan your day and to focus only on 1 thing at a time instead of procrastinating.
Schedule also free time for yourself. It’s crucial.
It looks like this:
- Use a timer while working. It will motivate you to do more and the right stuff instead of procrastinating on websites.
You can just press start and see this timer moving will motivate you to do more in less time. However, it is optional.
- You can even take it to the next level by actually tracking and writing down how you spend each minute of your day.
I did it for a week and it gives so much feedback. I am not a slave who needs to work for every minute of my life. But it will provide you with the information where you can adjust, where you can find more time for the things that are important to you. What you can cut off. Which bad habits you can change.
Simply write down in your notebook or in note talking app how you spend your time.
Example:
Monday:
7:30-7:42 Waking up;
7:42 – 8:24 Morning routine.
8:24 – Working
…
21:10-22:25 Playing a video game
22:25-22:37 Reading a book.
22:37 Going sleep
Be HONEST to yourself.
Easier version:
You note in your calendar how exactly you have spent your time this day (divided by 15 minutes blocks) – next to the one you planned.
- Communicate to others your priorities.
When you have all of the things planned out and you also have a system in place to keep you motivated, you still need to know one more thing.
Distractions.
There are everywhere. Make the best effort to stop them.
But what’s even more important is to prevent yourself from being interrupted by other people. Every time you hear an opportunity, take a moment to reflect before you say “yes”.
There is so much to do in the world but we have only 24 hours per day, and X years to do this. Therefore you need to be deadly serious about your time to make the most of it.
- Use the motto to help you make most of every minute and reduce hesitation.
My motto is:
You might die tomorrow so you’d better do everything you can to Make it the best day of your life, so if you died tomorrow you wouldn’t regret anything.
You can use this if you agree or you can come up with your own. Read this every morning and you will see results. We often procrastinate because we’re scared or we want to do something the right way. But our time is limited and if we contemplate on that we will remove a lot of hesitation and get rid of a lot of unnecessary bad thoughts and focus on what is trully important in life.
How to Incorporate it Into Your Life?
Most of the things we do daily are our habits. Therefore they must be programmed into your mind if you want to stick with them for a long time.
Try it for 30 days and see if it brings you to the life you want to have and to the person you want to become one day.
Remember that what you do or don’t do matters significantly., every day. And it compounds.
This Path v Typical Path
This Path
- You have more meaning in your life.
- You can start a New project.
- You have time to do meaningful stuff for you.
- You have control over your day and you can adjust.
Typical Path:
- You don’t even remember what you do during the day.
- You complain that you don’t have time.
- By not being organized you have less time for the things you want to do.
- You cannot manage what you do not see.
What to Do Now?
Start a new calendar on google and plan what you will do for the rest of the day. Then before you go to sleep, once again note how you actually spent this time.
“We have two lives, and the second begins when we realize we only have one.”
– Confucius