How I made more time available with me!!
Your personal goals demand time which is very hard to come by. I always struggled to make enough time available with me. I tried different techniques but somehow i was not satisfied. It is important to know that I needed time to work on my personal projects. I have a day job (5 days/week) and a family with a 4.5 years old daughter.
After several iterations finally i am able to crack it. I am able to spare 15 to 20 hrs per week for myself to do the stuff. Here are the few techniques I have applied:
- Avoided TV/Netflix/Youtube/Facebook completely. 😫
- Prepare a list of TODOs in the morning: By doing this i could prioritise my task before reaching office. It also helped me that none of the task slip away.
- Using alternative days for long sittings: I chose Monday, Wednesday and Friday as days for late evening sittings. After coming home, my schedule is like this:
a) 7-8pm : Spending 1 good hour with my daughter ( i.e reading stories / playing with her/dancing or listening to songs with her) 😙 😘
b) 8-9pm : Spending quality time with my wife. 😘
c) 9:30–12:30 or 1:30 pm : Working on my personal project (i.e. without any intervention) 😏
On days like Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday I make up for my lack of sleep and spend more time with family. By doing alternative day technique i am able to steal at least 9 good and productive hours from my week days.
4. Starving myself for not touching the laptop between 10am to 5pm on weekend: By following this religiously I have discovered that I am more focused in the evening. When i get the laptop back, I have pressure to finish my stuff and there is no way i can afford to waste time on my laptop. My typical schedule over the weekend is like this:
a) Saturday 10am -5pm: Going to shopping/park/meet friends etc. 🛍 🛒 🍹
b) Saturday 7pm -1am: I get good 6 hours to crack on which is pretty fantastic.
c) Sunday 10am -5pm: We as a family just pick our random location and and drive 🚙 to that place. We have a nice walk/an awesome family meal/ nice and long conversations/ playing with my daughter. 👪
d) Sunday 7pm -12 am: Another fantastic 5 hrs available to start tapping on my laptop.
5. Having a healthy diet: I refrain away from eating junk food and do not eat chocolates/cookies or sugar. Taking care of my vitamins and supplementing my diet with protein ( since i am a veggie) has helped me a lot. Most important thing i have done to achieve my healthy diet is that on every Monday I fill my office refrigerator with fruits/yogurt (full quota of the week), this has helped me a lot. 💪
PS: This is just a typical schedule for me but i make slight changes to it here and there according to my week’s diary. If you have any suggestions or techniques which have worked for you please feel free to comment — I would love to read!!
