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Want more free time? Be careful what you wish for
Having more free time is great…but…
What if you awoke tomorrow morning to discover you had been given all the money you needed and could do or own anything your heart desired? In addition, as a bonus, you have been given all the free time you desired. Does that sound like a nice picture to be in? Not so fast. Studies have shown that people who win big in the lottery do not necessarily become the happiest people. It has also been noted in the book, “The Millionaire Next Door” that 70% of all millionaires did not get their money from inheritance.
Just having what we wish for does not automatically mean we will manage well. Managing money and time takes skill and discipline.
Some of you may have heard of Parkinson’s Law. It says, “Work expands to fill the amount of time available” I remember one time when I was involved in a weekly evening commitment that lasted once a week for 14 weeks. Towards the end, I was thinking, “That will be neat with I get that extra day back. There is so much I could get to”
The end of the commitment came, and what did I find myself doing on that newly re-gained evening? Yes, I decided to just crash and watch television – for the most part, a passive activity. There were all these hobbies I had thought about starting, and groups that I wanted to join and courses I wanted to take. All that stayed in the deep freeze. I fell victim to Parkinson’s Law.
This taught me a lesson: If I work on my time management skills to free up extra time, I need to have a plan for what I will do with that time. I enjoy working on my scrapbook, riding bikes, being involved in Church activities, and spending time in our den engaged in quality conversation with my wife. So you might be saying, “Hey, that is fine for you. For me, I just want to lie in the hammock” No problem. If you have taken time to think of what is important to you, and lying in the hammock is at the top of the list, go for it. The key here is that you activity is intentional, and not by default. Who knows, you may dream up the world’s next greatest invention while in the hammock, or figure out a way to communicate better with your kids.
Let’s boil it down to five steps:
- Decide how much time you want to free up.
- Take inventory of your time.
- Ask yourself: What can I combine, eliminate, or delegate?
- Compute the amount of free time you will free up.
- Make a plan for how you will improve the quality of your life with that time