10 Effective Ways to Make Time for the Things You Love - Life's Little Pleasures and Struggles

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In our every day busy schedules, between our jobs, family, obligations, and chores, it’s hard to find time even for the things we need to do. How will we then make time for the things we love and really want to do?

Many people give this excuse – “I’m too busy, and I simply don’t have time for anything extra.” But it’s important to create space and time for the things that make you feel alive. Making time to do the things for yourself will not only make you happy and keep you sane, but it will also make you more productive and reduce your stress.

Maybe you love to read, write, or paint. Maybe you want to find time to learn a new exciting language, do gardening in your backyard, sit in the rocking chair on your front-porch and enjoy the sunset, go for an evening walk, watch your favorite TV show all by yourself, volunteer for your favorite cause, or go hiking in the mountain. You want to do all of those things that excite you, feed your soul, and make you happy. But you don’t find time for the things you love – like most of us.

Truth is, there are ways to make more time to do the things you love and enjoy. Some of us have made the time for doing the things we love doing while many others have allowed the constant demands and responsibilities of life to dictate how their days should be spent.

10 Effective Ways to Make Time for the Things You love and Really Want to Do:

Are you ready to live a life that you love? Do you want to take the small steps towards making it happen? Let’s start..

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1. Identify what you love to do.

Before you do anything to make time for the things you love, you need to first identify the things that you truly want to do. What is it that you want to make time for? What do you enjoy doing, but don’t have enough time to do? Make a short list of 5/6 things, write those down, and then focus on them. They can be little, simple pleasures or self-care, or something big, more challenging and exciting.

2. Track your time.

Now take note of how you spend your time for a week or so. See what things actually fill up your day. Are there things you could drop or minimize to make more time for the things you love?

Often we get stuck in a daily routine that’s anything but what we really want our days to be like. Is there a better way of doing things? Changing your routine is under your control. Make a new routine that’s more pleasant and more accommodating – filled with things you love and enjoy.

3. Simplify and prioritize.

Now it’s time for you to prioritize your tasks and daily/weekly/monthly goals. Everything can’t be a priority on your list. When everything becomes a priority, nothing is a priority! So, before you make a to-do list, ask yourself – “Is that a priority for me right now?” or “Do I need to do this today?”. Sometimes you do things because you assume they are essential, but if you give it some thought you can find ways to move on without them.

Take a careful look into your priority list, and simplify your tasks and goals. When you simplify your tasks and goals, you are prioritizing what is most important and meaningful to you in your life right now. Do those things and add some of the things you love and want to do with those. Setting a priority helps you focus on the things that nourish your soul and make you happy.

4. Find out the time wasters and eliminate them.

If you look carefully into your days, you will find that there are things you do that are not necessary. What do you spend a lot of your time on that isn’t on your priority list? Ask yourself: “What task here least reflects what matters most to me?” Take a close look at these things and really think about whether there are ways to reduce, minimize, or eliminate these tasks.

Figure out what you do simply to waste or kill your time — maybe surfing the internet, watching TV or YouTube videos, mindlessly browsing social media, talking unnecessarily etc. You have to eliminate or minimize these time-wasters to make time in your day for the more important things, the things that make you happy and that you love to do.

The average American spends 2.4 hours a day in front of the tv, but that time investment yields sparse rewards. Studies reveal that watching TV doesn’t make people nearly as happy as activities that really engage them, like playing games, taking a walk, reading, gardening, and eating with family.

5. Declutter and organize .

This one is very important if you truly want to make more time for the things you love and enjoy. A cluttered, disorganized home takes a lot of your time for cleaning, maintaining, and organizing stuff.

The more unnecessary stuff you own or accumulate, the more they occupy your physical space and your time. Clutter also affects your ability to focus on the important things. They cause distractions. A study conducted by Princeton University Neuroscience researchers found that a cluttered home environment impedes your ability to focus on the things that need your attention. Declutter and block out your distractions so that you can focus. The more you can focus, the more effective you will be and the less time you will waste being unproductive. That equals time saved for the things that are meaningful to you.

So, clutter not only drains your energy, it also robs you of your time. When you are surrounded by excessive clutter, you waste your time and energy looking for necessities. People in cluttered homes spend extra time, literally every day, searching for lost items, such as keys, phones, wallets, money, shoes, tools, etc. And the extra time it takes to search through the mess daily adds up quickly.

If your home cluttered, messy, and disorganized, it’s a challenge for you to keep your stuff in order. It takes a lot of time and efforts to clean and organize your home, and keep it tidy. More stuff = more mess = more cleaning time. You could use that precious time doing something you truly love and enjoy!

6. Learn to say no politely.

Learn to say no in a polite manner without being rude. And the sooner you learn it, the better it is for you. If you say ‘yes’ to every request, you will never have any free time. Rather, you will unnecessarily make your life harder by keeping busy with the things or people that will not leave any time in your schedule for yourself or for the things you want to do.

Remember that every time you say ‘yes’ to something you don’t like to do or don’t have time to do, you are saying ‘no’ to something else that you truly want to do. Saying ‘no’ when you need to say ‘no’ is actually one of the key habits for those trying to simplify and enjoy their lives.

Get super protective about your precious time, and say ‘no’ to everything but the essential requests – without feeling guilty. If you cannot say ‘no’, other people’s priorities will sneak into your days and become your priorities.

7. Declutter your schedule.

If your days are jam-packed with errands, chores, appointments, meetings, extra curricular activities, and social gatherings, find a way to simplify your days.

Figure out what things are important or essential and what are not. Cancel or postpone those that won’t hurt. Make some room in your schedule for the things you love and want to do for your own happiness.

8. Delegate and ask for help whenever needed.

You don’t have to do everything yourself. Give responsibilities to your assistant, spouse, even children so you can concentrate on what is necessary or important. If needed, spend a little time showing or briefing the person (to whom you are delegating the task) how to do that job, but that little time spent training will pay off in a lot of time saved later.

If you have children, and there are chores that could be done by them, give them responsibility by delegating the tasks. Delegating will allow you to slow down, relax, and spend some extra time doing something you love and enjoy. Besides, by doing that, you will also teach your kids responsibility and accountability. Same way, give junior staffers or assistants assignments that stretch their capabilities rather than doing the job yourself.

Also, don’t shy away from asking for help even if you can do it all by yourself. Trying to do everything will not only keep you busy all the time, but also you will get very exhausted from all the works you do. That will leave you with no time and energy to do something you love or enjoy. So, learn to ask your children or your spouse to help you with simple tasks like cleaning, unloading the dishwasher, doing laundry, folding clothes, making beds, or watering the plants. In the end, you will have more time to enjoy quality time with them doing the things you love.

9. Consolidate.

There are many things you do that are similar kinds, and you can pair them together in order to save time and make time for the things you love. A good example is running errands. At the start of the week, plan what you need to do and then group errands by location. Instead of running errands several times a day or week, do it once or twice to save time and gas.

Also, you can cook and prepare food in large amount to eat for a few days. That will save you a lot of time to spend on the things that matter to you.

10. Add the activities to your daily or weekly routine.

Now that you have time for the things you love and want to do, add some of those things or activities to your daily routine. If you want to read for an hour after having dinner, you will know what you need to do or finish to make that happen.

If you love to write or go for a walk, add that to your morning routine. Mornings are great because your day hasn’t been filled with a bunch of unscheduled, demanding, last-minute tasks that will push back those things you love to do. Get up half an hour or one hour earlier in the morning, and do that one thing that you know makes you come alive.

If you love to spend some time in the local public library or museum on Saturday or Sunday, plan ahead and prepare things that need to be done to make time for that activity.

Final Thoughts:

Making time for the things you really want to do requires that you re-evaluate your priorities, schedule, approach, and your perspective. With some careful planning, prioritizing, delegating, and rescheduling, you can find more time to enjoy what you love.

There are simpler ways to get things done and still make more time for self-care or other things you want to do. You just have to be intentional about it and stop glorifying busyness. Use your time wisely, and try these 10 proven and effective ways to make more time in your days for the things you love. Soon you will find yourself doing and enjoying the things that you always wanted to do.

Like this post? Check out this great book for some helpful ideas and inspirations: Time Management in 20 Minutes a Day: Simple Strategies to Increase Productivity, Enhance Creativity, and Make Your Time Your Own by Althea Press.