How to Find Time for Learning
One of the biggest challenges when trying to learn something new is finding the time to do it.
We all have obligations (work, school, family, sleep, etc.) that require our attention and finding free time in amongst all of these can sometimes be difficult.
Scheduling Out Your Day
Here’s an activity for you to perform to figure out how much free time you have available.
Note: Everyone’s schedule will differ on different days, but start by looking at the the 24 hours that you have available in a typical day.
A typical workday
Work: 8 hours
Sleep: 8 hours
Quality Time: x hours
Free Time: 8 – x hours
Total: 24 hours
Required Time: Work and Sleep
First, subtract 16 hours, this includes 8 hours for work (assuming you work a typical 8 hour day) and 8 hours for sleep – you will be left with 8 hours.
I would recommend against taking time away from work and sleep. You might be able to get away with modifying your sleep schedule occasionally, but try not to make a habit out of it. Also, if your employer allows you to take 30 minutes during working hours to explore something new, then adjust the hour allocation for work.
Quality Time
The remaining hours will vary depending on your lifestyle, but are what I call Quality Time – time that you cannot be substituted for other voluntary activities. Subtract time you spend getting ready for work, eating (breakfast, lunch and dinner), commuting, spending time with family (or significant other) and any other activities in which you participate in a typical workday.
Free Time
Your Free Time should be things that if they are not done, the consequences are minimal. This might be things such as time spent watching TV, exercising, browsing the internet, reading, etc. This is the time that you can allocate for learning something new.
Determine What’s Important
If you completed the exercise and found that you don’t have any free time, what do you do? Determine what’s important to you or prioritize. Is watching your favorite TV show more important to you than spending time learning something new?
Create Time
Of course you can’t create time in the literal sense, but you can adjust your habits so it appears that you have more free time. If you must do everything on your list, try modifying the time spent on each activity – instead of exercising for 1 hour, exercise for 30 minutes. Here are a couple things that you can do to change your TV habits.
1. Stop Watching Commercials
If you have a Tivo or DVR, record all of your favorite shows and watch them when you have time. By skipping commercials, you can save over 15 minutes of commercials are shown on TV every hour. Or you can watch shows on your computer via Hulu.
2. Browse Internet/Email During Commercials
If you don’t have a DVR and like to watch shows at their scheduled time, productively use the time during commercials to do other things such as respond to email or browse the internet.
The free time that you have will fluctuate throughout your life, but it’s important that you always try to allocate some time to your continued learning.
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Great advice! I try to schedule rigorously and assign time slots for learning more about new skills and interests each day. Some days are more difficult than others, but developing a dedication to these pursuits of knowledge is a motivator to excel in all of the others areas of my life in order to make time.