Life is short.  We don’t know which day will be our last.  And when we take our last breath, the hope is that we will have spent our time doing those things that matter most to us.  So, spending our time wisely each day is important.

Consider asking yourself this: “Does my life currently reflect what is most important to me? How have I spent my time on this earth? Have I spent it on what truly matters to me?”

How Do You Spend Your Free Time?

Think about it this way:  Each day we have a finite amount of time.  We need 8 hours of sleep.  Then we need roughly 10 hours for work and commuting time.  That leaves us with 6 hours each day of free time.  The tough question we each need to ask ourselves is, “What am I doing with those 6 hours?”

Those 6 hours are the greatest reflection of who you are.  What you do with your spare time speaks volumes about who you are as a person.  So, carefully choose what you do with those hours.

For example, for the last 18 years, my daughter has been my top priority.  So, for those years, my spare time has been devoted primarily to her.  I don’t regret a single moment of how I’ve spent that time.  Being a mother has been the most rewarding experience of my life.  Being a mother is truly what matters to me.

Of course, I can’t say that all my spare time has been given to my daughter.  I shudder to think of the time that I’ve wasted surfing the Internet.  Or the time I’ve blown watching nonsense television shows.  How much time have I wasted worrying about things that were out of my control?  And how much time have I spent being irritated with other people?  When I look back, I realize that far too much time has been wasted.

Below are some ways to make sure that you don’t waste your time, but that you instead spend your time on what matters to you.  Consider using these approaches so that your life reflects what truly is most important to you.

First, Figure Out What Is Important to You  

Your time should be spent on those things that matter to you.  The problem is that many people go through life not knowing what is important to them.  They simply move through life without stopping to reflect.

When we fail to consider what is important to us, we can make the mistake of spending our time doing what society expects of us.  Or, we may let our spouse, our parents or our religion tell us what is important.  None of those approaches will lead to our spending our time on the things that truly matter to us.

Other people cannot decide what is important to you.  Only you can make that decision.  That is because we each are built very differently.  So, what is important to you, may not be very important to me.

For example, I know people for whom traveling is very important.  It isn’t for me.  I like to travel, and I’ve had the privilege of seeing many parts of the world.  But if you told me today that I would never get on an airplane again, I wouldn’t care.  Traveling to me is interesting.  But so are lots of other things.

However, there are certain things that are very important to me.  Being a mother is important to me.  Being a good wife is important to me.  Having time to read, write and listen to beautiful music is important to me.  So, the key to my life is to make sure the bulk of my free time is devoted to those things.

Set Your Boundaries

If you don’t set boundaries with other people, you won’t get to choose how you spend your time.  Instead, folks will consume your time with their needs and problems.  For example, I once was in a relationship in which most of my weekends were spent doing activities that the other person wanted to do.  As a result, I dreaded every weekend because my free time typically was spent doing activities that I didn’t enjoy.

Realize that you don’t owe it to anyone – your child, your spouse, or your friends – to spend your precious free time doing things you don’t like to do.  Now that I am older, I try not to spend my time doing activities that I don’t like.  For the most part, I only do what I enjoy.

Of course, I will admit that on occasion, we have to do things that aren’t fun.  There are the occasional social and family obligations which are a hassle.  But, for the most part, you should be spending your free time in ways that are either enjoyable or rewarding to you.

But to do so, you have to set your boundaries with other people.  You have to be clear about how you will and will not spend your time.  And you have to be willing to endure some whining when other folks are unhappy with your choices.  But spending your time wisely is well worth it.

Spending Your Time Wisely by Scheduling Your Free Time

Most of us are very good at creating a schedule for work.  We have appointments, task lists and deadlines.  Our work lives tend to be very structured.

By contrast, no one ever considers scheduling their free time.  We want it to be more flexible.  But the problem with not scheduling your free time is that it quickly gets taken up with nonsense.  If you don’t set aside time for what is important to you, people will think you have nothing to do.  Then they’ll waste your time trying to get you to do stuff for them that they could easily do for themselves.

The best thing you can do is to schedule your free time.  Make your desires a priority!  For instance, let’s say that in order to maintain your sanity, you need to work out daily.  Tell people that you have an “appointment” between 5 and 6 p.m. every day.  They don’t have to know what you are doing.  They just need to know that you are unavailable during that hour.

The other benefit of scheduling your free time is that you don’t fall into the trap of wasting your time.  There are all kinds of distractions that we fall prey to when we are tired.  Television watching, surfing the Internet and going on social media are just a few.  When your free time is scheduled, you aren’t as likely to waste your time with distractions.

When we are healthy and life is going smoothly, we sometimes forget how precious every moment is.  But the difficult truth is that life is finite.  We only have so many days to spend on this earth.  Not one of us knows which day will be our last.  As a result, treat your time like it is a valuable commodity.  Spend it wisely.  Use it for those things that are most important to you.  In that way, you will have a life that is well-lived.  (To read more about time management, click here.)

Email: meerabelle@meerabelledey.com

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