Improve the Quality of Your Free Time

By  LeSashea Feagin

In today’s society, people are apt to multitask, cramming more tasks into smaller amounts of time with the intent of being more efficient. Most often the motivation to multitask comes from the desire to spend less time being productive and more time relaxing or doing what you want rather than what you have to do. To have what is popularly referred to as “free time”.

Many people plan free time down to the minute, making reservations, attending events, setting appointments with friends. And then others are unsure of what to do with their free time, unable to make a decision as to what they really want to do with their time free from pertinent obligations. Both of these types of people end a vacation feeling as if they never even took one. The former because they have planned every second of their time, switching meeting deadlines for work with meeting event start times. The latter because they end up doing whatever comes along and not what leaves them feeling relaxed. To avoid these situations, people should take the middle road. A bit of planning does not hurt, as leaving all the free time to chance is not good.

The first thing you must do is assess the amount of free time that you have. Most people will have a definitive idea of how much time they have to work with. However short or long the period of time will be, be certain you know the start and end time of the free time. The biggest thing is to stick to these times strictly. If all the time you have is from 6 PM on Friday to 10 AM on Monday, disconnect at 6 PM on Friday and prepare on Sunday night to return to the regular hustle and bustle on Monday. Set up an auto-response on email accounts. Leave instructions for those who absolutely need to reach you during your time away such as a phone number to a voicemail box you will check at the most twice per day. Remain in control of your time by choosing to contact them on your time.

After you have a handle on the amount of time you have, the next item on your to-do list is to plan activities. Here is where many people go crazy. They plan every second of their free time down to the amount of time they will sleep, how long they will need to eat a meal, etcetera. Focus on quality of the events rather than the quantity of the events. If you have five days of free time, only two of those days should be consumed by activities. Also be certain those activities are meaningful to you but not strictly timed. For instance, don’t plan to attend a concert for which you must purchase tickets in advanced, arrive at the door at a certain time and plan an outfit. Instead opt for an outdoor fest where you can arrive or leave when you please.