How do you cheat time and expand your 24 hours in a day?
I'd like to see if there are more ways to time hack more efficiently!
Here are some of the ways that I currently cheat our allotted time. Mostly in efforts to gain knowledge quicker on various topics.
Podcasts &/or Audio Books are listened to at 3x speed. Science has shown that when spoken words are sped up, it forces us to focus better while taking more of the content in. I have not been able to listen to podcasts in 3x while driving as there are too many things taking part of my brainpower, so I generally stay within 2.5-2.7x speed to still take it all in.
Combining Activities like working out and listening to podcasts/etc..., driving and listening to podcasts/etc...
No Wasted High Energy Time for instance: having a plan for tomorrow's tasks and laying out clothes/items for the next day as part of my nighttime routine. This allows me to start my designated activity very quickly with minimal brainpower.
Outsource where I can for instance, I love to cook but hate having to come up with what to cook or grab at the grocery store—my solution HelloFresh. I can't recommend them enough and yet to have a bad meal. I am not a pork eater and never have been. However, I have had to eat these pork meals and have not been disappointed! So what am I outsourcing here to save my time? The process of sitting down and figuring out what I should eat for the week, then making a list, then heading to the grocery store to get the required items. This, for me, used to be at least an hour or two to plan for myself, my wife, and two daughters. When you have two under 2, time is of the essence, and in reality, this has saved a grocery bill that used to be $3-400 a week on BS that mostly would be thrown out anyway. So, HelloFresh is awesome, lol!
My day job pays for a driving service to and from where I'm going, so I can use this time to do mundane tasks like check email, make phone calls, and other less prioritized items for the day, so this is one of those compounding tasks moments from combining activities. Now, if I can only get a personal driver for the rest of the time, I'd be in great shape, lol!
After all of these things, there are still many days where I feel time-compressed to get all I want to be accomplished done.
"Am I just expecting too much, or am I doing too much?"
I'd love to hear other answers!
Lots of good ideas already, I would extend with the following:
Establish routines: routines reduced mental load as you simply follow the program. That way you do stuff on autopilot (e.g. laundry, cleaning, morning routine) and can have your brain busy figuring complex problems. Combine easy physical work with heave mental work.
Same for combining exercise and mental load. Go for a walk or jog while listening to podcasts and audiobooks. I spend lots of my walks on the phone with family & friends.
If you have recurring meetings, propose to cut those meetings by 10-20 percent and be tough on it.
Force yourself and people to stick to the agreed on schedule. Meetings start on time and they end on time. Period. Lots of time less wasted.
Do things with more focus and intensity, e.g. when you want to sleep, focus on falling asleep, not reading or Netflixing. If you want to learn something, do this in full focus mode with the highest concentration possible not with 4 different sources of distraction in the background. That way you get done faster. Multitasking does not work.
This is great as well. Yes, routines create habits that become mindless in action (less brain power)!