We all have down time but we don’t always get the full potential out of it. Everyone gets the same amount of time each day and it’s up to you what you do with it.
Do you feel like you could be spending your time more wisely? Read more to find ways to maximize your down time.
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1. Listen to Audio Books on Your Commute
Almost everyone has some sort of commute to get to work. Some take only a few minutes if you’re lucky enough to live close to work while others can take closer to an hour. One way to make use of this time no matter how much you have is to listen to audio books while your traveling. This is a great way to still be able to pay attention to the road or stops while listening to something interesting and/or informative.
One of the best places to get free audio books is the library. You have a huge selection and you never know what you’ll find, especially if you live in a city with multiple libraries. You can check them out and keep them for quite some time, in most cities you can keep them for months as long as no one has requested to put it on hold. Many even have online options.
Another great place is Audible. There is an even bigger library to choose from and lots of ways to get free or discounted books. The great thing about Audible is you can listen no matter where are you as long as you have your phone. Put in your earbuds or you can use Bluetooth to hook it up to your car. Just sign up and download the app. Plus, you’ll get 2 free books when you sign up by clicking here!
2. Have a plan in place
One way to waste your time is to sit around thinking about what your going to do. Okay, hold on, yes it’s very important to make a plan, but what’s counterproductive is spending an hour of your morning planning your day when you could have used that hour to do something that you planned to do.
Have you ever been on a date where you go back and both about what do to or where to eat? You spend half of the date deciding on what to do and then you don’t even have time to do what you finally decided to do!
If you already have a plan in place then you have more time for the things you actually want to do.
You can even plan time to plan. If you like to wake up in the mornings and relax with coffee and take your time getting ready, that might be a great time to think about your day and even your week and make some plans. Have a calendar or planner so you know what’s going on for the day. Put it somewhere easy to access so you actually use it.
3. Order Online
We are so lucky to live in a world where you can just spend a few minutes of your downtime and get food, clothes, supplies and pretty much anything delivered right to our door! You truly don’t even have to leave the house if you’re willing to pay the delivery fees. And sometimes the fees can even be cheaper than the gas or the Uber to go where you were planning!
With services like Amazon Prime you can have pretty much anything delivered to your door in 2 days. With Amazon Fresh you can skip the trip to the grocery store and have everything delivered right to your door! Click below to try them for free!
Try Amazon Prime 30-Day Free Trial
If you don’t want to sign up with amazon, many grocery stores have their own delivery services. Many even give you a free first delivery. If your just looking for already cooked food now you can have pretty much anything brought to you with the millions of apps available.
One other option that is very common these days is in store pick up. This can also save you time if you spend a few minutes ordering what you want and then stopping by the store to get it. You won’t have to spend as much of your down time finding the items yourself or going there all the way there only to find out the item is out of stock. Check out Dollar Tree who have tons of great items for just $1 and FREE* In-Store Pickup! *Restrictions may apply.
The resources we have at our fingertips is amazing, but it does us no good if we don’t use them.
4. Do something while you wait
Waiting is a waste of time. At work, I have employees who will stand and wait for a customer. I hate that! There are so many other things you could be doing while you’re waiting. They have plenty of little task that need to get done or other customers they could be reaching out too. They could even be trying to find other products to suggest to their current customer. There are so many different options but waiting, aka standing around, is not one of them.
The same applies to your personal life. If you are stuck at the doctors office waiting, then read a book, play a game on your phone, call a friend, read some of the brochures to learn something new; there are so many options that you have. The worst thing you could do is sit there for 20 minutes staring at the wall. Unless that is a relaxing activity for you then what’s the point? What good is has that done for you? You could have played a game on your phone and at least gone up a couple levels and had some fun.
The activity could be productive, relaxing, fun, educational or anything you want, as long as your doing something with your time. Make the most of your time by doing something while you wait.
5. Set up fun and relaxing activities
Sometimes after a long day you just want to go home and relax. We all do, it’s natural. Another natural thing is to gravitate towards familiar and easy to access activities. For example, at the end of work many people go home and sit on the couch and turn on the TV. This is a easy, fun and relaxing activity which makes it a go to. Soon it becomes a habit.
Is this what you really want to do after your work day though?
If you want to read as your activity, put the remote in a harder to access place and put your book next to your favorite chair. So when you instinctively go to sit in your chair instead of reaching for the remote, you’ll reach for your book.
If there is movie you want to watch, instead of forgetting about it and watching sitcoms, put it on the table so you’ll see if when you get home. If you have homework that needs to get done, put it where you will see it. Set yourself up for success.
It might take some time but eventually if you train your mind to see and do the activities that you want to do, it will become a habit and pretty soon you’ll come home and look for your book instead of the remote.