How to Optimize Free Time

You’re in line at the store. You’re in the car waiting for your date to come out. You’re walking across campus between classes. What do you do in these moments of free time? Free time is check-your-phone time. You open emails, reply to a couple texts, update your apps or scroll through Instagram. That’s great. But here’s what’s not great: Taking up time that is not free time and doing the same thing.

I realized something recently. I check Instagram once in the morning, right after I wake up, and once at night, before getting to bed. In some ways, this is how I force myself to get out of bed in the morning and into bed at night, but it’s also a waste of time. Because what happens when I encounter a pice of free time? I check Instagram! Instead of spending a block of ten minutes in the morning on social media, I could spread it out over the little moments of nothingness that pop up during my day. Then I could use the extra ten minutes in the morning for reading or exercising!


Moral of the story: Don’t try and create moments of free time. Accept that these moments come, and take advantage of them when they do.

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