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11 Strategies to Manage Time For Hobbies

 

Given a normal 24 hour day most of us commit 8 hours to sleep, at least 8 hours to work, and I would say at minimum 1 hour for eating. That is 17 hours already consumed. What we are left with is not very much. So how do we manage time for hobbies?

 

Creating time for hobbies is a matter of managing time. Several strategies can be used to free up more time for your hobbies. These time managing strategies include planning, prioritizing, and maximizing productivity.  

 

The truth is, it is easy to be busy. With so much of our time already committed to work and sleep, is it even reasonable to spend time on hobbies? Especially considering the remaining 7 hours can easily be consumed by chores, responsibilities, commuting, preparation, and basically just living. 

 

Create Time For Hobbies with Time Management Strategies

Create time for hobbies with time management strategies. Creating a plan of action or policy to achieve the desired result of more time for hobbies is what this post is all about. Hobbies are important so it only makes sense that we are actively making time for them in our lives. Because life is so busy it is easy for hobby time to be overlooked. Implementing some or all of the following time management strategies can help you create more time for your hobbies:

 

  1. Prioritize tasks important to you
  2. Take advantage productive time
  3. Plan activities that you will focus on
  4. Utilize productive space
  5. Split Up Tasks Into Smaller More Achievable Tasks 
  6. Create Self Imposed Deadlines
  7. Say No to Unimportant Activities
  8. Most tasks do not need to be completed perfectly
  9. Delegate tasks where possible
  10. Review you Day

 

Prioritize Tasks Important to You

Prioritizing tasks important to you is at the top of the list, because I believe this is the most important time management strategy you can implement into your life. Most of us probably already engage in a form of prioritizing tasks without giving it much thought. I encourage you to think more about this and actively prioritize your time. What is important to you and does how you spend your time reflect that?

 

What are your core values? Learning what these are will help you when it comes to prioritizing. These values will be things like your health, finances, relationships, faith, or anything that is valuable to you. If relationships are important to you then when you are prioritizing tasks you might put greater weight on family time, if it is faith, then maybe you will focus more on meditating or activities that help you exercise your faith. 

 

Whatever your core values are, hobbies can benefit it. 

 

How you prioritize your time is entirely up to you. You get to decide what is important and what isn’t important.   

 

Prioritizing tasks is a matter of focussing on what matters most. Stephen Covey suggests using a time matrix to help decide what tasks are a priority. In his matrix he has four quadrants: Quadrant 1, is Important Urgent. Quadrant 2, is Important, Not Urgent. Quadrant 3, is  Not Important, Urgent. And Quadrant 4, is Not Important, Not Urgent.

 

Using this matrix to prioritize tasks, you decide what is important and what isn’t.    

Not Important, Not Urgent

Not important, not urgent tasks can be things like emails, phone calls, some meetings. This segment is busy work, time fillers. These are going to be tasks that provide little or no value to you. And yet, these tasks can persistently pop up on schedules if we are not prioritizing. When planning, or creating a to-do list, these tasks should be a low priority. 

 

Not Important, Urgent

Not important, urgent tasks are similar to the previous group but with a pressing timeline. Similarly, this also includes some emails, phone calls, and meetings. With the added urgency of the task, it is easy to get caught in this segment. 

 

Important, Not Urgent

Important, not urgent is going to be the most effective area to focus your time. Focussing on tasks in this group allows you to get important tasks done while limiting the number of urgent tasks you’ll face in the future. 

 

Important, Urgent

Important, urgent tasks are tasks that need to get done and they need to get done now. This could be emergencies, projects with deadlines, or pressing problems. Given the importance and urgency of this segment, continuing to function here can lead to increased stress.

 

Actively prioritizing time effectively not only reduces stress by helping minimize urgent tasks, but it also allows you to create more time for your hobbies. Hobbies which if they aren’t already a priority in your life, can help serve whatever is a priority. 

 

Take Advantage of Productive Time

 

It is important to take advantage of productive time. Productive time is the time where you are the most effective. for some this might be the morning, others this could be the afternoon or evening. Some people just aren’t functional in the morning. No matter how hard they try, they just won’t be as effective early in the morning. Other people are absolutely morning personalities this is when they can get their best work done. 

 

Take a small assessment of yourself. When do you think you do your best work? Whatever that segment of time may be, make sure you are taking advantage of it. Tackling tasks during a less productive time could increase the amount of time it takes to complete that task. Whereas assigning large tasks to your effective hours can decrease the amount of time it takes to get the job done. 

 

benefits of focussing on tasks in the morning

The benefits of focusing on tasks in the morning are getting big tasks done early. Achieving early-morning victories helps set the tone for the rest of the day. Also, it is a lot less busy in the morning. Kids are still sleeping, almost everyone is still sleeping. This quiet environment allows you to get work done with very little interruptions. 

 

If you are a morning person you may find that you are most productive during the morning hours. Focusing on important tasks during the morning could help you get jobs done more efficiently and effectively. 

 

Benefits of focussing on tasks in the afternoon

Benefits of working on tasks in the afternoon are that there are less distractions. Typically kids will be in school or if they are younger there is a good chance they will be napping. You’ve already had lunch and are no longer thinking of your empty stomach. This is about the time people are getting their second wind for the day. Or for the late risers this could very well be their first wind. 

 

The lack of distractions and extra motivation to keep the day moving forward can make the afternoon a great time to focus on large tasks. This segment of time would be more suitable for people that don’t like waking up early and staying up late. 

 

Benefits of focussing on tasks in the evening

Benefits of focussing on tasks in the evening is that life is much calmer at night. If you have kids they are in bed. Dinner is finished. Work is done. You are in the bonus hours. This is most likely the most freedom in your schedule that you have. Evenings can be productive because not only is it calm, it is also your choice what you do during this time. 

 

Unlike mornings or afternoons you are not usually competing with a schedule. Knowing the time is yours to spend how you want can be a powerful way to accomplish meaningful tasks. There is something motivating about choosing to do what you are going to do. “I don’t have to clean the house right now, I’m choosing to.”

 

The more you take advantage of your productive time, the more time you will be able to save for hobbies. It may even be that the productive times are the best times for you to focus on your hobbies. 

Plan activities that you will focus on

 

Plan activities that you will focus on for the day, week, month, and or year. Priorities should play a big role in your plans. When making your plans focus on important tasks. Planning time for your hobby is a great way for it to not get neglected.

 

Planning for your day can go a long way with time management. One strategy when it comes to planning is making sure you make use of your most productive time. Some people are more productive in the morning. Others might be the most productive in the afternoon or even in the evening. The idea is to make sure that this time is being used wisely so that you can get the most done during your effective hours. 

 

A planned day allows you to schedule the tasks you need to get done. This allows you to strategically map out your day ensuring there are no minutes going to waste. An important tip when it comes to planning out your day is to give proper time allotments for each task. Overbooked schedules can lead to increased stress and reduced effectiveness.  

 

It is important to note, planned days do not need to be a rigid schedule. For some, it will be better to have more of a to-do list for the day with the freedom to choose what is done and when it is done. To-do list while offering more freedom, also ensures that tasks are getting done and time is being used efficiently. 

 

Personally, I like to use a hybrid approach. I have part of my day scheduled that I feel works best on a schedule and the rest I leave open for my to-dos. This allows me to have structure when I need it and the freedom to navigate my schedule when it is possible.   

 

Time Management Tools

 

There are many time management tools. Planners, schedules, to-do lists, prioritizers, and lists are a few tools to help manage your time. While there are a lot of tools not all of them may be the right tool for you. 

 

Choosing your right time management tool
  • Planners
  • Schedules
  • To-do Lists
  • Prioritizers
  • Lists

 

Planning out your day gives you the control to choose what you are going to do in the day. Whether it be a rigid schedule or a more free to-do list, you have the control. Pick your tasks and activities wisely and make sure that you are leaving time for yourself. Actively planning an hour or two for your hobby can help ensure that your recreation time does not get put on the back burner. 

 

 

Utilize Productive Space to Accomplish Tasks More Efficiently

 

Utilize productive space to accomplish tasks more efficiently. Not all working environments are created equal. Kitchens are great for cooking, they may not be the best for reading. Or perhaps the kitchen is the quietest place and so is the best place to read.

 

Do you have an at home office? If so is the office free from distractions and does it allow for tasks to get done effectively and productively? It could even be that working in an office isn’t the most effective place to accomplish the task. 

 

It could be that the productive space is an audible, podcast, or playlist. Some tasks go faster when you can let your mind wander and let your body go through the motions. Chores become a lot easier when my mind is able to escape to a more fantastical place.

 

Split Tasks Into Smaller More Achievable Tasks

SaFe is an acronym used by developers that means scaled agile framework. SaFe practice is intended to allow developers to maximize their output by scaling tasks and allowing for agility needed for quick deployment.

 

This same practice can be used for completing tasks. Splitting big tasks into smaller tasks can free up your schedule while still letting you get important stuff done.

 

An easy example of this would be a task like cleaning the house. The whole house is dirty and it just needs to get cleaned. A big task like this not only takes a lot of time, but it can be overwhelming which can reduce productivity.

 

Breaking up the task to clean the house into smaller more attainable tasks allows you to progress your goal and it gives you the freedom to be more flexible. Instead of having to put off golfing with friends until the house is clean you can focus on getting a smaller task like cleaning the bathroom done. You are still accomplishing your task of cleaning the house and at the same time you are giving yourself the freedom to do more of what you want to do. 

 

Self Imposed Deadlines

 

Self imposed deadlines is a time management strategy that keeps you from getting distracted. Limiting a task to a certain amount of time can be a good way to keep you on task and focused. These deadlines need to be realistic while at the same time should push you to work a little bit harder. 

 

Tasks that work well with self imposed deadlines can be chores, answering emails, reviewing your budget and even hobbies. Knowing that I committed to have a blog post finished before I go to bed will push me to stay focused on writing the post. For one, I don’t want to spend all night writing it and two, even if evenings are my productive time I would still like to go to bed at a decent hour. 

 

Soft Deadlines

 

Some tasks will do better with soft deadlines. Soft deadlines are not time specific. Instead these deadlines are more general. The house will be cleaned before the end of the week. I will learn a new song before dinner. Some jobs are hard to estimate the amount of time required to accomplish them. Soft deadlines work best for these types of jobs. I don’t know how long it will take me to clean my house. I do know I can get it done before the end of the week. 

 

Hard Deadlines 

 

Where soft deadlines are dealing with estimates, hard deadlines are dealing with actuals. I may not know how long it will take me to clean my whole house, but I know that I can clean my bathroom in 10 minutes. With that knowledge I can set motivating deadlines to get tasks done quick. If dinner is in 8 minutes, I might even attempt to clean the bathroom in eight minutes and push myself a little harder. 

 

When working with deadlines I find it best to always reward myself for successfully hitting the deadline. Oftentimes I will set the reward while I am determining the deadline. If I get the bathroom cleaned before dinner, I can play xbox for the rest of the night. Sometimes the reward comes in the form of buying something that I wanted for a while. Usually that comes with the accomplishment of a larger task and harder deadline. 

 

Self imposed deadlines should work for you, never against you. If your deadlines are causing stress this strategy might not be for you. Or maybe you need to give yourself more time. Like all tools this will take practice and experience to hone. As you are able to set better deadlines for yourself you will find that tasks that took an hour are taking minutes.  

 

Say No to Unimportant Activities

 

Say no to unimportant activities. Saying no can be hard, especially if you are having to say no to someone. However saying no can be a crucial time management strategy to free up your schedule. Some activities just aren’t worth your time. 

 

Saying no is easier when you have established your priorities. Tasks that fall in the unimportant not urgent category are good example tasks that you can say no to. This could even include 

 

Although saying no can be hard, this can also be one of your most powerful tools at your disposal. not only the saying no allows you to have less tasks you need to accomplish but saying no can also work to tasks you already have planned. However if these tasks are tied to other people, it might be best to keep your commitments. Next time be more proactive with your No. Joke aside, personal tasks that you scheduled are a fair game for you to nope right out of. 

 

Most tasks do not need to be completed perfectly

 

Most tasks do not need to be completed perfectly. Stop being a perfectionist. Perfection can lead to frustration and wasted time. No one is perfect. Except that good can be enough. Oftentimes perfection can even shut down a task from getting done completely.

The mindset, “If I’m not going to give it my best why not I do it at all.” while logical, ultimately, this perfection is stopping you from completing tasks or spending too much time on tasks that aren’t deserving of your time. On the other hand, a clean bathroom is better than an unclean bathroom. A good task done, is far better than a perfect task never finished.

 

There may be some tasks where perfection is required. Learn to recognize what these tasks are. I try to avoid them at all costs. If they can’t be avoided, then I like to use the rough draft approach and reach perfection afterwards. 

 

Perfectionism can even find its way into hobbies. That can be good and it can be bad. If it is stopping you from enjoying your hobby then it probably is bad. The less time we spend worrying about perfection the more time we can spend enjoying our hobbies.

 

Delegate tasks where possible

 

Delegate tasks where possible. If you have tasks that can be accomplished by someone else maybe it is better to ask them to do it. You could clean the bathroom, or your completely capable kid could clean the bathroom. Is there an event you are hosting that you are stressing over? Can someone help you with the event? Maybe they can bring a side dish or a dessert. Oftentimes people want to help, they just need to be given the opportunity. 

 

If you do ask for help be sure you are not taking advantage of someone’s kindness. Try to repay a favor with a favor if you can. It doesn’t have to be immediately, but should be done in a timely manner. This practice will foster good relationships and in return people will be more inclined to help you again. 

 

On the other hand if it is within your means maybe it is better to hire out help. Local neighborhood kids may be willing to mow your lawn for a few dollars. Buying dinner every now and then can also save time. 

 

It is OK to look for help to accomplish tasks. 

 

Review your Day

 

Review your Day. While this strategy will not help you today it can help you tomorrow. 

 

  • Were you able to stick to your plan? 
  • Did you focus on priorities? 
  • Did you get to spend time on hobbies? 
  • What tasks could have been delegated? 
  • Could I have accomplished more working elsewhere?
  • What weren’t you able to accomplish? 
  • Did a task get more focus than it should? 
  • Was time wasted on a task I didn’t need to do? 
  • Could you have split up a larger task? 
  • Was productive time used effectively? 

 

Reviewing your day is a practice in accountability. Being accountable to yourself leads to improvement. All these strategies will take time to implement and get good at. As you review your day, celebrate your wins and learn from your losses. Don’t dwell on the negatives. Learn from them and move on. And don’t worry about implementing all of the strategies. Pick one to focus on. Once you get that down try picking up another. Add to your arsenal of time saving strategies as you see fit.

 

Save time for hobbies by managing your time

 

The whole point is to save time for hobbies. Make sure that you are letting yourself enjoy hobbies. Implementing these time saving strategies will make the fleeting hours that fly by become less fleeting and more memorable as you are able to spend more time doing what you want to do. Hobbies it is about time.