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- MB #003: 4 Get Back 25+ Hours a Week With These Hacks
MB #003: 4 Get Back 25+ Hours a Week With These Hacks
Hey friends,
One of the non-renewable resources in our life that we're asked to steward well and invest wisely is our time. You won't get more of it and it passes whether you like it or not, or whether you are aware of or intentional with it or not.
So let's unpack many of my favorite ways to reclaim more time for both your family and your health:
1. Clothes
In our home, we've leaned more heavily towards the idea of a "capsule wardrobe" and purged and simplified our wardrobe multiple times. You can do this to varying degrees. On the extreme side of this is what Steve Jobs did - he wore the same thing every day so that he never had to spend time and decision-making energy picking clothes. That said, I get that not everyone wants to wear a black turtleneck, jeans, and white shoes every day. So a simple minimalist capsule wardrobe may be the way to go. Here's a great post about it if you want to learn more. This saves an average of 1-2 hours per week.
2. Food
We began using this hack during COVID but realized how much time it saved us and have continued it to this day. People spend over an hour or more each day finding/sourcing their food. This happens through trips to grocery stores, restaurants, convenience stores, etc. For maximal time savings, I recommend using a grocery delivery service instead of actually going to the store. Once you factor in time, cost of fuel, fighting crowds, etc. it makes a lot of sense to just have it delivered.
I would also recommend things like cooking in bulk on Sunday, using meal replacement shakes on busy days, being ok with becoming a creature of habit, and eating the same meals every day for a while. This saves an average of 5-7 hours per week.
*Topic for another day is the capsule recipe book and how this is a masterful way to approach meal planning, shopping, prep, and eating with a family of young children.
3. Laser-focused work times
One of my favorite time-saving hacks is to put my phone on airplane mode. I know, it sounds simple, but doing so at various important times of the day has proven really helpful, and when I fail to use this hack I end up wasting SO much time it's not even funny. I put my phone on airplane mode during focused work blocks, post-work dinner/family time, at night while I sleep, and then I try to leave it on airplane mode in the morning when I read my Bible, journal, pray, workout, etc. This saves me at least 10 hours a week.
4. Netflix (or insert your streaming service of choice)
People watch an average of 3 hours per day of TV. Let that sink in. Don't have time to workout? Don't have time to meal prep? Don't have time to have a meaningful morning routine? The first place I would look is at your daily streaming service (or social media) consumption. Getting to bed earlier means the ability to get up earlier and master the morning (to include exercise consistently). This saves an average of 10-15 hours per week.
5. Make 'No' your new default
Everything you say 'yes' to means you have to say 'no' to something else. Make 'no' your default, then assess every opportunity through a few lenses. First, you should have a family mission and vision statement. Would this opportunity help your family move towards that, or away from that vision? Next, ask yourself if this can be done a different way. For instance, if you're invited to a work meeting, maybe you can't say 'no', but you could pose a helpful solution that might shorten the meeting or help prevent it from being needed altogether. Lastly, if it passes the family mission/vision test, it will still require time and space that was being used for something else. So I like to ask which choice brings me closer to the family vision faster. This saves an average of 5 hours per week.