How to Have More Time for Your Hobbies
Your hobbies can be more than just nice diversions. They can also be therapeutic and good for your emotional wellbeing. Hobbies can often be relaxing but not always, though they are almost always mentally stimulating and great for boosting your mood. But are you finding making time for your hobbies challenging?
Do you always feel like there is too much to do and you are too busy to have the time you want to just relax and do what you love? How do you carve out more time in the day? If you want to stop being disappointed with how little time you get for your hobby, then try these tips.
Put the Phone Down
Do you realize how much time you spend on your phone each day? How much each week? I think the number of hours spent would surprise many people.
We think of our phone as a lifeline to the outside world and all of our contacts, but it can also be a huge time sink. How many times do you plan to spend just a minute checking messages on your phone and suddenly you realize you have spent hours there just wasting time? Your phone is probably the biggest time waster in your life, and if you want more time for your hobby, you should put the phone away and maybe even turn it off to give yourself more time dedicated to your hobby.
Instead of regretting how much time you spent on your phone, you can start to enjoy how much time you have for the things that have real meaning to you.
Choose a Hobby You Can Do Anywhere
Some hobbies need a dedicated location for you to enjoy them. Not all of them do, and maybe you could take up a side hobby that interests you that you could do on the go. It could be sewing, writing, collecting, reading, or something else that can be done portably.
You will soon begin to find all sorts of pockets of time in your day to spend doing your hobby when you can fit it into your daily routine so easily, even if this isn’t your main hobby. Enjoy the benefits of a hobby by fitting it into your day when you are out and about is a real bonus.
Outsource Your Chores
What kinds of daily and weekly tasks do you have to do that are sapping your time?
If you have a busy career or run your own business, having someone to do your house cleaning or ironing can be an absolute blessing. If you are working hard, you deserve to give yourself a little bit of extra time. Maybe even some of your business activities can also be outsourced to give a bit more freedom, such as using a virtual assistant.
Who couldn’t use more time in their day? If you want extra time to spend on your hobby and you have some disposable income, it may be worth the cost to pay someone to take care of some chores for you occasionally. You may not want to pay for these services every day but having someone else do some chores for you once a week can give you a lot of extra time that you didn’t have before.
It doesn’t matter if you live in Essex or anywhere else in the world, ensuring you get a good work-life balance is essential for your health and wellbeing. Working too hard without relaxing causes stress, and stress is a killer, so you really should not feel guilty about the extra expense.
Andy, who is a Manhattan Cleaner, says clients often start by booking ad hoc cleaning or ironing services but when they realise how nice it is not to have to worry about household chores over the weekend, they often book more regular sessions.
And of course, if you run your own business either full or part-time, delegating some of the workload is often a very effective way of allowing you to focus on your business but without absorbing every second of every day! Using a virtual assistant may be an excellent option to consider.
Make a Date for Your Hobby
Maybe the reason you struggle to make time for your hobbies is that you don’t schedule them into your diary as a fixed event. Your schedule can be jam-packed and you might not feel like you have room in it to make time for pleasure, but what if you schedule your hobby time? Try finding free spots on your schedule and assigning that time for hobbies.
You will be surprised at how effective this is at helping you spend time how you want to and where you want to. When you schedule something in, you are more likely to do it, and that small action could be just what you need to push yourself to spend time the way you want to. People have a habit of wasting their own time and not doing the things they would prefer to do. By setting out a specific time for your hobby, though, you will have at least some of the motivation necessary to make it happen.
Eliminate Time Wasters
Is there anything in your life that is wasting your time? We previously talked about the phone, but look for other distractions that you could do without. These could be keeping you from getting quality time with your hobby. Try to eliminate or reduce them as much as possible to make better use of your time.
Fit in Time Where You Can
You may despair over the limited blocks of time you have throughout the day that actually belong to you and that you can use for free time.
Maybe you really want to spend an hour on your hobby but all you have are small sections of 15-20 minutes. Work out how to utilise those bite-sized chunks of time and spend a little time and a little time there. If you have a dedicated space in our home for your hobby, you can leave your hobby items out and just get back to them when you have a few free minutes.
Spending a little time on your hobby throughout the day can be every bit as rewarding as spending a large block of time on it. Don’t get frustrated with how little time you have; just make use of what time you do have. There may not always be an opportunity to add more free time to your day, so you will have to learn how to adapt and make use of what is available to you.
Closing Thoughts
Your hobbies can chape you and help to determine what kind of person you are and how fulfilling your life is. The hobbies you live can bring you joy and brighten up your day. They can give you something to look forward to and make your days more memorable. Be sure to make more time for them, even if you have to make some changes to your schedule and your habits. You will be glad you did.