How to Gain Control of Your Free Time

It’s a question we all ask – How does one gain control of free time? Is there any free time in my life?

Mostly I tend to think I don’t have any free time. Am I right? Doesn’t it seem like there’s no free time in today’s world?

I’m grateful for all the people out there who are so much smarter than I am, and I’m grateful that we have a way to find them online. Yesterday, my niece Kyla Andrews Turner posted this on LinkedIn and I immediately watched it. One, because I trust what Kyla chooses will either be insightful and helpful or damn funny. And two, because I’m always looking for hacks on how to make better use of my time.

I’m pretty much the queen of squandering time. But, wow, am I ever a wizard at playing online solitaire when my brain is too full of everything else.

Laura Vanderkam reminds us that there are 168 hours in a week, many of which can translate to free time if we learn what our true priorities are.

One line that’s stuck in my head is this (and I paraphrase),”If you ask me whether I have time to clean my blinds, I’d say no. But if you offered me $100,000 to clean my blinds, I’m sure I’d be able to get it done in a hurry. It’s all about what’s a priority to you.”

There are so many gems of wisdom here. After watching it twice because I so needed to hear it, I wrote my personal performance review of 2021 as if it had already happened. I thought about the 3 – 5 things I’d need to accomplish this year so that I felt the year had been a success. That exercise should help me choose what to say yes to this year, where to spend my spare time.

Better yet, it will help me determine what to say NO to, which is an entire other blog post.

I hope this is as helpful to you as it was to me. Let me know what resonates with you.