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WAYS YOU CAN ADD ANOTHER HOUR OR TWO OF PRODUCTIVE TIME EACH DAY

Time is the #1 resource we all want more of. Who can’t use a few extra hours to spend with family, grow a business, relax, and recharge? But HOW do you gain more time in your day?

Unfortunately we can’t manufacture time.  We all have the same 24 hours a day.  However, improved productivity comes from being more efficient and more effective with the time we do have.  There are ways to manage time well and gain productive hours a day from the same amount of time spent.

SPECIFIC WAYS TO HAVE A PRODUCTIVE 24 HOURS

Use a To-Do List

You’ve probably heard this so many times  that you’re numb to it.  You know why you hear it so often?  Because it is so effective!

You don’t write a book without an outline. You don’t build a home without a blueprint. So why would you start your day without a to-do list?

To-do lists give you a sense of direction. A clear outline for your day will  exponentially increase your efficiency.

Leverage You Waiting Time

I hate waiting in line. I will avoid it like the plague.  But there are times in our day when it is unavoidable.  These are times when we sit idle waiting like:

– at the doctor’s office
– in line at a retail store
– at the bank.

Instead of checking your feed for the hundredth time, look over your to-do list and use that waiting time productively. Is there anything you could be working on?

Wake Up Earlier

This is a no brainer.  After all, if you are sleeping you aren’t doing anything.  Don’t get me wrong, I think sleep if very important for your health. You just might manage your time for sleeping more effectively.  Waking up earlier is the absolute best way to gain more hours in your day.

I’ve been waking up at 5:30 am for a couple of years now. I notice that by the time the day starts for everyone else I’ve already checked off many tasks on my to-do list.

Start With A Specific Ritual

Part of making every day as productive as possible means you have to have energy, focus, and motivation.  Find a morning ritual you can do every day that gets your day off to the best start possible.

 

Try these simple steps for the next 30 days. I guarantee you will see a big increase in your personal productivity and still have more time for family, recreation, and recharging!

 

What are your ideas for getting more “time” out of the day?  Let us know in the comments below!

    38 replies to "How To Gain Extra Time Every Day"

    • Sandra_Leon
    • CastleRice

      I totally agree on waking up early. Hard to make a habit at first, but very rewarding once you get the hang of it.

      • randomgeneratedone

        But what if my extra time is extra sleep? I love sleep, sleep is my favorite.

      • Sandra_Leon

        Yes! I love my early quiet mornings.

    • Fr4nkWh1te

      Waking up earlier doesn’t add hours to your day. Yes you get more done earlier, but you also go to bed earlier. Your day still has 24h.

      • blacksunrising

        Well not exactly. Like in my life before there was a point in the day where you’re all done and at home and it’s night time but you stay up not actively being entertained or doing anything other than just semi focused on low level nothing to pass the time til I felt tired enough for bed. When I started choosing to go to bed a bit earlier than 12 and getting up at 630 most days of the week I legitimately had gained hours everyday. Giving yourself more time in the morning everyday when you’re most able to be productive because others are awake and places are open also in some ways gains hours because you line yourself up to possibly go do this or that. I know it’s a bit vague but I get the feeling some of that is what he meant by gaining hours. Once I started cutting out my bored idle time passing at night and just going to bed so I could be up with energy to do things with real intent I found myself getting more done. Gaining more time in the hours that hold more potential for productivity would be another way to put it.

        • Tel_FiRE

          I can’t relate to any of this at all lol. I am an absolute zombie in the early morning, I feel like complete shit, and they are far and away my least productive hours. It’s late at night, when I know I have to sleep soon, that I start to get crazy bursts of energy and find myself in a productive mindset (albeit counterproductive in reality since I need to fucking sleep)

          • blacksunrising

            That’s another thing the brain did to me. Felt all this wild potential, motivation and good intention. Then what would happen to me is that none of those things would happen the next day but at the time in the middle of the night I can just let the good feelings come from my thoughts and let myself believe I could. It was like an infuriating mental exercise I never signed up for. I used to be a morning zombie myself but I got sick of it and just forced it to change little by little. For me anyway that productive mindset was usually not true. Just a lie my brain told me because it knew full well that I wasn’t realistically going to have to do any of productive things. Just a pat on the back for wanting to and thinking I could.

            • Tel_FiRE

              No, I definitely get *actually* productive late at night. If I don’t force myself to go to sleep, I will organize everything, do things I’ve been putting off, get actually active doing things and being the most productive I ever am.

            • blacksunrising

              Hey that’s good then!

            • Tel_FiRE

              Well, it would probably be better if I could do it at a more reasonable time heh

            • spectrem

              Same here, but I finally had to tell myself to ignore my grumpy pessimistic morning brain and embrace my productive, idealistic brain.

      • codygman

        The difference is you get extra time at or near 100% instead of whatever is left.

        You do what you believe is most important while at your best.

        Most people give what’s leftover (maybe) after work to things most important to them.

        It’s easier to have consistency and keep a routine in the morning because nothing has “come up” to get in your way.

        Forming habits by adding to your morning routine becomes easy.

        • Fr4nkWh1te

          My 100% starts earlier and ends earlier if I wake up earlier. And I can also have a morning routine at 10 am.

      • junker44

        I’ve never quite understood this productivity advice either, can someone explain? IF people are proven to be more productive in a certain period after waking, does it matter WHEN you wake? Is this advice based on your main interactions/competitors working 9-5 and by waking at 5am you are more alert/prepared and ‘in the groove’ to maximise your 9-5 performance? Or is it a biological thing and its best to try and maximise your time spent in natural daylight etc.

        • Jozemite_Apps

          Yes it does matter when you wake up because then you have more time.

          For example, I wake up around 12 on a Sunday. I need to go wash clothes, haircut, maybe wash car, and then come home and maybe do homework, personal projects, etc. I always go to sleep at 2 am. I had only 14 hours to be productive.

          If I wake up at 9 am, I have 17 hours to be productive. No matter how early I get up, I always sleep at 2 am.

          Waking up earlier gives me more hours to work on things I might have put off until tomorrow.

          • junker44

            But this just equates to ‘sleep less’, if thats the case, ‘stay up late’ would be equally valid and you don’t see that recommended nearly as often as get up early?

            • Jozemite_Apps

              Probably because you can’t go to sleep too late since you need to go to work, etc.

              I think she also means don’t oversleep. If you wake up at 10, and then decide to go back to sleep, you’re wasting hours.

      • Jozemite_Apps

        You’re implying you would sleep earlier for waking up earlier. You’d normally go to sleep at the usual time you do, just this time you spent less time sleeping before.

        You can still wake up early even if you sleep less.

      • 50pcVAS-50pcVGS

        No shit

      • lwllnbrndn

        By that logic, none of what he says add hours. You’re only doing things that accomplish more, either with less effort or with less in between time.

        Waking up earlier has shown benefits, but this could be a correlation not a causation. Hard to say. Either way, it’s a good place to start for people since it could be the catalyst for great change.

        • Fr4nkWh1te

          Well none of this does actually add hours, but using small timeslots that are otherwise unused is different than just doing the same things 2 hours earlier.

      • JazzOrchestra

        Hell it doesn’t; I get up one week before work every day, and it’s absolute madness what I can get done

        • Fr4nkWh1te

          ??

      • Sandra_Leon

        I completely agree with you. You have to go to bed earlier. I’m in bed no later than 11 pm. I choose to be an “early riser” instead of a “night owl” because I’m more productive in the mornings. There are fewer distractions.

        • Fr4nkWh1te

          Fair enough but I live next to a gastronomy, it’s loud as fuck all day and I am still able to work without distractions in the middle of the day because I plug earphones into my ear.

    • Alyscupcakes

      What do people need to do in the morning that requires them to be up so early before work?

      • codygman

        The same thing people who stay up late working on things important to them do, except with way more mental and physical energy.

        When do you set aside time to work on hobbies or projects you are passionate about?

        After work?

        If so, I bet you’d be more effective before work while you are 100%.

        • Alyscupcakes

          You assume I’m 100% in the morning.

          In the mornings I’m up and out the door within 20minutes, because not being in a rush in the morning tends to make do nothing in the mornings and be late for work some how. I eat, do hair, and put on makeup in my car at my work parking lot. If I arrive early enough, I have time to zen before work.

          Sure work is tiring, but as long as I eat I’m fine. (I have problems with hypoglycemia).

          When I’m not tied to a work schedule, I do my best work and I am most active after 10pm.

          So I guess in a way I’m doing work early… Just starting 7 hours earlier than you.

          • codygman

            Can’t respond in full until tomorrow, but I will clarify at least one thing. I assume that everyone is 100% in the morning if they slept enough hours and are not still affected by sleep deprivation. It took me a good month of waking up early before I had that 100% feeling, and I think that was because I was getting past sleep deprivation.

            I believe everyone is at their Optimum in the morning based on compelling argument sleep science makes about when we need to sleep.

      • Jozemite_Apps

        On weekends, homework or chores so I have more free time later in the day to do other things… like more homework or work from home.

    • _typical_boshwack_

      Lol you’re not actually giving yourself “more hours” because you’re more than likely just going to bed earlier….you’re just trolling for people to watch your shit on YouTube.

      • Sandra_Leon

        You’re right. I do have to go to bed earlier. I’m in bed by 11 pm. But by that time I’m out of energy anyway. Anything I do won’t be done efficiently. So instead of staying up doing random things I go to bed early and wake up at 5 am. I find this works better for me.

    • figyelem

      Actually, energy is the thing we all want more off. Time without energy is a loss, so you have to be careful about things like waking up earlier….. if you wake up 2 hours earlier, but you don’t feel energized enough to tackle your hard tasks, that’s no good.

      I’d argue that getting more sleep and feeling more energized and being able to tackle your most valuable todos is better.

      • Sandra_Leon

        For sure! I always put sleep over everything. There’s no point in waking up too early and be groggy all day. As long as I get my 6 hours (11pm-5am) I’m fine all day. Of course, this varies from person to person.

    • EndZone18

      Getting rid of dopamine ”junk” activities will also make it feel like you have more time in the day.

      Try it out, replace internet with reading for 1 day. 100% will be the longest day of your life!

      • Sandra_Leon

        I love this concept!

    • erzadel

      I can definitely attest to the “wake up early” bit. If I sleep in, I wake up already in a lazy mood and I feel like the day has gotten off to a bad start and I’ve wasted it.

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