Optimize Your Free Time As A Parent

Once you have kids, the amount of minutes you have in a day to do the things you want to do goes way down. While you may have had 6 to 8 hours to do what you wanted before, that number is going to be cut in at least half. 

With less than half of the time you had before, it becomes critical for you to figure out what is really important in your life. What is it that brings you real joy, and what are your short and long term goals? Sit down and make an actual list of these items. Spend some time thinking through them, away from your computer and other distractions.

Your goals may change over time, and that is totally fine. What’s important is that you know what those goals are, and that you are working towards them regularly.

If you have a hard time remembering what your goals are, write them down and put them up in a place where you will see them on a consistent basis. You can put them on your mirror, next to a computer monitor, or somewhere else that you’ll be sure to see them. Remembering your goals will help you to focus your time on the items that are important to you.

My current list of priorities looks like this:

• Spend quality time with my family at home and traveling
• Live a healthy and active lifestyle
• Learn and improve skills that will push my career forward
• Spend free time reading

This list doesn’t change very much. These are the main goals that I like to focus my time around. Most of the articles that I write are around these subjects, and how to go about them.

What this means is that I don’t spend much time watching TV unless it’s with my family (which is pretty uncommon as I’d rather be up and moving around with them than sitting and watching TV). I don’t spend too much time on social media, or other sites that will take up a lot of time. Social media is very easy to get caught up in, and spend many hours doing nothing.

What it does mean is that I’m often trying to learn something new, trying a new activity with my kids, or doing some other active activity. I try to focus on simple methods for living and eating healthy. I try to optimize the time when I’m with my kids by doing other things if they’re playing by themselves.

Whatever your goals are, you’ll need to work on prioritizing them while raising your kids and building a quality relationship with them. Don’t beat yourself up if you make a mistake, or need to take a break. Instead, learn from your mistakes and work to fix them in the future. Beating yourself up over a mistake will only make things worse for you and those around you.

Making the most of your time on any given day will put you a step ahead of many people, and will open up opportunities for you that wouldn’t otherwise be there. Take advantage of those opportunities to improve yourself and your life.

Conclusion

Becoming the very best version of yourself will require you to optimize your available time. Make the most of that time.