Know that you should invest in yourself, but just can't find the time? Well, you can, and the time is probably right in front of you …
Investing in yourself is important because no one cares about your success or your financial security as much as you do.
Businesses just want your money. Your employer just wants as much work from you for as little money as possible. Community projects will run your life if you let them.
It's up to all of us to take charge of our own success.
Finding the time outside of your normal job, family, community, and social commitments aren't always easy, but “free” time is a good place to look first.
Free time isn't free, of course. It ticks away just like any other time. It can be put to good use or frittered away.
The choice is ours. If we don't make the choice, others will.
How to find time to invest in yourself
Here are seven ways to squeeze extra time out of a day to develop other skills or other income streams:
1. Fill up your commute with good material
There are only so many things you can do while you're driving to and from work.
(Well, you can try to do a lot of things, but it may cost you a fender bender, or even worse.)
Maybe instead of listening to the radio try listening to a recorded book that would help you to grow or learn something new, like learning how to negotiate better,
Or use the time to practice an elevator speech or do vocal calisthenics if your job requires you to use your voice a lot.
2. Watch your web-surfing habits
I know that there are certain sites for me that just suck up time.
These sites aren't bad in and of themselves, but it has all of these cool things that just keep you glued there.
Once in a while, there will be a neat video that I can get a post idea from, but usually, I just end up looking at the posts with the wild pictures or the YouTube videos of people getting shot in the back at point-blank range with a paintball marker.
For bloggers, and a lot of other professions, a certain amount of reading up on stuff is mandatory to stay in touch, but when things cross the line from reading up into entertainment, things become unproductive.
So, if you often get sidetracked into stuff that isn't creating value (like I do!), cut yourself off a little earlier than you might otherwise and you'll find time to be productive.
3. Watch your video game habits
As a child of the 80s, I really got into video games. Though nothing quite replaces Millipede or Space Invaders, newer games are just as addictive.
Hundreds if not thousands of hours can easily be consumed by some of these games.
One newsletter I used to subscribe to said that anyone past high-school age who was playing video games was wasting their time. Period. I don't agree with that but we can easily spend way too much time playing games, so if this is you then consider what else you could accomplish if you didn't play quite so much.
4. Watch your TV habits
This is closely related to the Internet and video games. Have any shows that you watch jumped the shark or does it just plain suck? Those are prime (time) candidates for replacement with more fruitful activities — namely active-ities that aren't just passive entertainment.
I hardly ever watch TV these days. Check out how much you watch and see if it's too much.
5. Take advantage of waits
It's possible to minimize waits at the doctor's office by scheduling appointments first thing in the morning, but if emergencies come up then that's the time that the doctor might see them. Or waiting in line.
These are the five- to 30-minute blocks of time that could be put to better use than checking out the cover of Soap Opera Digest or reading a dog-eared Smithsonian from sixteen years ago.
A notebook and pen, a trade magazine, or a set of flash cards for something you're trying to learn come in handy at these odd times.
6. Make good use of your days off
Notwithstanding family barbecues, etc., holidays are great for knocking out a lot of projects or gaining traction on things that have gotten out of control, because it's an unusually large block of time.
Saturdays (if you work Monday through Friday) are another good time to invest in yourself.
7. Pinpoint other time sucks by tracking your time
You may not play video games or watch a lot of TV, but odds are that you have another flavor of escape that is good while it lasts but lets you down quickly afterward.
The easiest way to find these things is to (a) track how you use your time, or (b) ask your family how you spend your time.
Those pockets of time add up!
All told, it's likely that you can find at least a few hours a week to spend a little better.
Multiply this by 52 weeks a year, and however many years you have left, that's a lot of hours.
It takes on the order of 500 to 1,000 hours of learning and doing something to master it. Five hours a week means that something can be mastered in two to four years. Ten hours a week, it only takes a year or two.
What would you like to master? What could you cut out, and not really miss, in order to accomplish this?
Thanks for reading!
I love helping people achieve financial peace of mind by offering ways to spend less money and make more money, both online and offline!
(header photo by Aphiwat chuangchoem)
This is some great advice. I especially agree with the first point of using driving time to learn. Back when I was in college, I would record lectures on to a digital recorder and then burn them to CDs. I'd drive around in my car all week listening back to my lectures to study for the exams. It worked wonders. You'd be amazed at how much you retain from listening back to that stuff even when you don't think you're paying much attention. Now I just listen to audio books. I've listened to the E-Myth 3 times now. I've also listened to The Millionaire Next Door and Good to Great. It's a great use of that driving time.
Good advice, I Listen to podcasts in the car, while I'm work and at home, it is amazing how much good, free information is available on audio now and good audio books.
Definitely some good advice here…. I've found that not sleeping in on days off and getting up when I would for work has created a lot of extra time to invest in my self. I can get a lot done on Saturday and Sunday Mornings when I would otherwise be in bed, and this way my sleep schedule is a lot more consistent.
By listening to Cd's or audio tapes on your drive to work,while walking, or on your commute by bus or train, one can have the equivalence of a PHD in four years.
Great advice. Folks are always complaining that they don't have enough time but only you know what your habits and where you might not use your time so wisely. Life is short. One point, while you do want to increase your productivity, it's not wasting time to take time for yourself to rejuvenate and decompress. It may be watching tv or playing a video game or playing golf. Whatever it is, know that that's the point of the exercise and it has an beginning and an end. If you're vegging out for hours in front of the tv, you're really not "relaxing" anymore. Taking productive time for yourself makes your work time that much more productive. And taking time for yourself provides insurance for a healthier lifestyle and outlook. This in turn leads to a more productive life.
The Pareto principle comes to mind here. i have written about this in articles and books.
the Pareto principle is that 20 percent of your work will produce 80 percent of the value. There is more but that is essentially it. The trick is to isolate that 20 percent and focus on that.
if anyone is interested I am willing to go further.
My husband and I just had this conversation yesterday and he told me to write down a schedule to help me and him to understand what my daily routine looks like. At first it was very hard to put everything down in a schedule but then I realized that if I did get everything together there would be a lot more time for me and could do those things you are talking about above. I now block my time in 1/2 hour increments which is pretty much my little toddlers attention span and I am a lot more productive. Thanks for the extra tips in this article.