Have you ever gotten into bed and wondered where they day went?
What would you do if you had one more free hour each day? Would you read a book? Would you rest? Would you engage a hobby you have been neglecting or have a conversation with someone you love, but haven’t had the time for recently? How would you use the extra hour?
Here is a list of 10 ways to find an extra hour each day. Consider picking just one of them and trying it out today. Let me know how it goes!
1. Go to Sleep Early – It sounds counterintuitive, but if you normally sleep from 11pm to 7am you get an average of 8 hours of sleep each night. Force yourself to get into bed one hour earlier and set the alarm to go off in 8 hours. You will wake up an hour earlier and have 60 minutes of undisturbed time!
2. Plan Your Week Ahead – Without a plan, we become subject to the prevailing winds of seemingly urgent last minute demands on our time. If we planning our week ahead, we can easily carve out an extra hour for the activity or relationship we keep putting off.
3. Don’t Hit Snooze – Okay. This one isn’t easy. But if we get out of bed when the alarm goes off rather than hit snooze, we save a minimum of 10 minutes a day, which adds up to over an hour each week.
4. Drop One Show – A single show takes almost an hour to watch. Choosing to drop one show a week gives us an extra hour to read a book or tackle that pesky house project we keep putting off.
5. Turn Off Notifications – The incessant buzzing of our phones has become culturally normal. However, the intrusion of push notification on our phones is viciously distracting and allows other people’s priorities to co-opt ours. If we turn of notifications and choose when to check our phones, we will save us far more than an hour each week.
6. Check News Every Other Day – Unless we are stock analysts, we don’t need up to the minute info on world news. We certainly don’t need to know the nuances and opinions of every pundits… on every subject… every day. If you are worried you will miss a breaking news story, do not worry, coworkers or friends will let you know.
7. Delete 5 Distracting Apps – Many phone apps are great, and help us live efficient lives. However, we can easily loose huge swaths of time to entertaining games, shopping and news apps. Periodically deleting apps that begin to take up an inordinate amount of time will save hours over time.
8. Cancel Netflix Subscription – Okay, this is a radical step for most of us, but on-demand movies and television shows can become a dangerously tempting time sucker. If you find yourself binge watching on your favorite movie subscription service, try canceling it for one month. You will gain back a whole lot more than an hour.
9. Check Facebook/Instagram Once A Day – My wife Jenny started recently limited checking Facebook to only once a day. She has found much more time in her day as a result. Although she isn’t unto the minute with her feed, she is still up to speed on what is happening with her friends by the end of each day.
10. Make Meals in Bunches – Several of my friends have started making meals in batches each Sunday night. One friend makes a whole week worth of salads each weekend, storing them in air tight Mason jars. Another friend cooks chicken on Sunday night and freezes it in little pouches so he can take chicken to work for lunch each day. The hour of prep up front saves time all week long.
If you pick even one of these suggestions, you will find least one extra hour… what will you do with the extra time?
Have other ideas? I would love to hear from you… leave a comment below or7 shoot me an email at jagianotti@yahoo.com!
One Grip Higher 