No philosophy today, just a quick list of my favorite ways to save time for learning, creating and being as happy as I can.
In random order :)
Reduce commitments
Face it, there’s too little time to attend parties and meetings and there’s only one saturday night a week. If you commit less, you’ll save time for your meaningful others instead of getting angry for having to drag yourself at your frisbee club’s annual potluck.
Strangle your todo list
Remove 50% of the items in your todo list and get it all done this today. If you have some time left, you can still achieve more, but what about taking a hike or read with your spare time instead? and get it all done this today! If you have some time left, you can still achieve more, but what about taking a hike or read with your spare time instead?
Don’t text: call
Texting is a vague form of communication, it forces you to constantly guess and clarify. Skip the arguments and call her. Takes 4 mn.
Play audiobooks
While cooking or driving, play audio versions of a book you promised you would read, you’ll learn something, you won’t get bored and the message WILL make its way to your brain. I often play conferences and speeches when I cook and clean the house, I love the way it feeds my mind while doing chores that annoy the hell out of me.
Answer your email right away
Respond to your email with short but engaging answers, don’t let more than 48 hours pass before you reply, that way the topic of conversation will still be fresh in your mind and you won’t have to spend 10 mn recalling what you’re supposed to say.
Stream movies
Instead of watching movies on TV, stream them! Streaming saves you the time watching lousy ads and you can decide when and where (a laptop and a connection are enough). Enjoy that solution while it’s still legal.
Read on your phone
Most smartphones support reader apps such as kindle or nook, if you’re in the subway or in the airport, you can read and learn, I do that all the time now, and I often surprise myself looking forward to a long commute :)
Cut the small talk
While making new connections, you can reduce the time talking shit and directly learn from people by identifying what they’re really passionate about and listen to them, most humans know a lot more than they think, and they’re usually happy to share their knowledge.
Stick a daily 30 minutes meditation in your schedule
Increased awareness, efficiency, enjoyment, empathy, the results will blow your mind. If 30 mn in a row is too much, feel free to split them in sessions of 10 mn, make it easy on yourself, but do it everyday, use a meditation timer to keep track smoothly.
Exploit the half-awake state
When you’re waking up, you’re mind is permeable to positive thinking (and to negative thinking). You can waste this window worrying about future problems, or hack your mind into happiness by asking yourself the 7 morning power questions designed by Tony Robbins:
1.What am I happy about in my life right now?
What about that makes me happy?
How does that make me feel?
2.What am I excited about in my life right now?
What about that makes me excited?
How does that make me feel?
3.What am I proud about in my life right now?
What about that makes me proud?
How does that make me feel?
4.What am I grateful about in my life right now?
What about that makes me grateful?
How does that make me feel?
5.What am I enjoying most in my life right now?
What about that do I enjoy?
How does that make me feel?
6.What am I committed to in my life right now?
What about that makes me committed?
How does that make me feel?
7.Who do I love? Who loves me?
What about that makes me loving?
How does that make me feel?
If you cringe when trying that mental work-out for the first time, chances are your mind is used to do exactly opposite, which creates a conflicts. No wonder most of us feel horrible in the morning. Negative thinking is a habit worth busting, and these 7 questions are the best warm up I can think of to give a uplifting tone my day. I’ve been practicing it for 3 years and although my mind resisted at first, it saved me thousands of cranky mornings.
Cook a huge pot of soup
It’s easy, fast, your pot will last for 4 days minimum and it’ll get tastier as you reach the end.
Definitely my favorite tip to cut down on cooking time. Try that one, for instance, I recommend it, and you don’t have to add meat if you’re a vegetarian :)
Buy bulked items
I hate to waste time in supermarkets, so if I have the storage space I buy toilet paper by the ton: it’s always needed and so much cheaper when purchased in large quantities. Think of all the time you’ll save by grocery shopping once a month instead of twice a week .
Optimize your time on Facebook
I reduced it to a daily 30 mn (which is still a lot, I know) I try to log in FB twice a day, not more and when I find a quote or an interesting link I post it on Buffer so that I can tweet and share without wasting time on social media.
Increase your reading speed
You’ll understand the content just as well and there are plenty of methods to speed read.
I use reading trainer for iOS, it’s nicely designed.
Take snapshots
Snap a picture of the post office’s business hours with your phone, no real point in writing that down on a piece of paper. Same thing for your receipts and business cards…
Create systematic daily habits
Meditating 30 mn a day should be one of them. I have a few daily habits, they don’t look that complicated but they fill the time I could waste in loop thinking or drifting endlessly on Gawker. Here’s my current list:
- Tony Robbins 7 questions (as seen above)
- Meditation
- Checking bank account
- Finding one inspiring quote (http://zenquotes.org/ is my source :)
- writing my diary
- writing for my blog
Work in your head
If you’re too tired to jump at your desk, you could simply work from your bed, it’s so much more relaxing to close your eyes and start writing an urgent email mentally. By the time you feel rested you can stand up and type it down.
Archive all your email
Most email software have an”archive” option (including Gmail). Use it: select all the mail in your inbox and click the archive button 
, then enjoy the view (inbox=0). A good way to stop skimming in the huge load of spam just to find your bank statement…
Train your memory
Your brain can remember everything, just give it some work out so you can toss most of your notes, e-Reminders and whatnot (I don’t know about you but most of the time I don’t check them anyway).
I personally love Tony Buzan’s method for using it when I need to get my memory back to shape (affiliated link right here).
Try one of the above, or you’ve just wasted 3 minutes reading this post…
Take randomly one of these 19 hints and apply it today, please let me know how it worked for you in the comments below.