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Tips to use your valuable time more efficiently

A person often does not have enough time to, on the one hand, arrange all kinds of things that we (feeling) are obliged to do, and on the other hand, to perform fun activities to relax body and mind. In this respect, time is a lot like money, of which we regularly have too little. There are all kinds of methods for using money more frugally, but with some creative measures you can also have more time in your hands, giving you a calmer and longer life.

What is time

A question that is in fact impossible for humans to answer as the phenomenon of time is beyond our understanding. When did time begin and when does time end? Would time exist if there were no day and night, no seasons, if we had eternal life? But our problem of time is of course not on the philosophical level, but in everyday practice. That is why we will provide practical, down-to-earth solutions to use our time more efficiently and have more time left.

Another week has passed

Time often flies in our feelings. We are busy with all kinds of things, have to meet deadlines, deal with daily worries and before you know it it is Monday again.

You can of course compare time with another phenomenon of which we often have too little, namely money. After all, if we want to spend more money than we receive, a shortage will also arise and we will also be in trouble. The same applies to time, because if we need more time than we have available, we run out of time. So it is logical that, just as financially, we cannot spend more than we have available.

Frugality

So, just like with money, we should be careful and frugal with our time. No wasting on unnecessary things, but instead using our precious minutes efficiently and thoughtfully. What is very different for time than for money is that we cannot stop spending time, because the seconds are simply ticking away. Unfortunately, we can’t save time by not using it. But now enough philosophizing, here come the practical tips. Because with the following insights you can try to spend and experience time more intelligently, with the result not only actually having more time, but also more time for the feeling.

Efficient planning

  • Just like in business, it makes sense to plan the day in your private life. Preferably by making a list of tasks the day before, with the maximum time you want to spend on them.
  • If you think about this calmly and, if necessary, consult with family members, you can approach matters more efficiently and, above all, divide and combine tasks. “If you’re going that way, you can also….”
  • By making that to-do list the day before, you will also achieve better sleep, because in bed you will not have all kinds of thoughts running through your head that prevent you from falling asleep or give you a restless night. It is better to get 7 hours of good, deep sleep than 8 hours of superficial sleep, which immediately saves us an hour of time. Because by planning as much as possible the day before, the ‘time saving knife’ cuts both ways because we can get up an hour earlier.

 

Telephoning is often more effective than emailing

If something is a waste of time, it is days of unnecessary back and forth emails, while a problem can often be solved with one phone call within a few minutes. An email is extremely useful for communicating simple information, such as the agenda or minutes of a meeting, but not for meeting or discussing more complex issues. That only leads to many wasted minutes and sometimes misunderstanding, with the ultimate result that a telephone call must provide the solution.

The email can save time in preparation for an oral interview, meeting, etc. If, in addition to the agenda, we send other clarifying documents or suggestions in preparation, thinking has already been done that no longer needs to take place at the meeting itself. And when you lead a meeting, always start with the question instead of as the last point. Because new points that occur to participants during the meeting are saved for the next meeting.

This way your weekend lasts much longer

Finally, our feeling and experience of time. It is clear to everyone that we feel that a pleasant two-week holiday is over much faster than, for example, a week of forced stay in a hospital. And when we know that something unpleasant is about to happen to us, time flies, while the unpleasant event itself, even if it lasts relatively short, can feel like it lasts forever.

This often concerns matters that we have no control over, but it does mean that in this sense we can also influence our experience of time. The next example is extreme, but if we spend the weekend constantly looking at the clock and counting the seconds, that weekend will last forever. So slowing down in our spare time can in many ways give us more peace of mind and save time.