How to Make the Most of Your Free Time: 10 Essential Questions to Ask Yourself

Free time is important to me because it is the time that I spend doing things that I enjoy doing or working towards a goal. Because free time is very limited for me, I try to make the most of the free time that I do have. One way that I figure out how to make the most of my free time is by asking myself questions that help me create a clearer idea of what is realistic and what I might want to do during that time. Below are questions I ask myself about free time.

What am I Doing This Weekend?

I have three day weekends from work so I like to plan ahead some of what I might be doing. Otherwise, I end up spending my weekend trying to figure out what I should do. For example, this weekend I planned to run a half marathon, spend time at my parents for Thanksgiving, take my son, A, to see Santa Claus arrive in a helicopter, look at gingerbread houses, and then tomorrow we will go to the light parade. I already had these things figured out so I didn't have to wake up this morning and waste half the day before figuring out what I wanted to do.

What is a hobby?

Sometimes I really do have to ask myself what a hobby is or I end up spending all my time doing productive things like homework, housework, and other to-do list items. This can be great at times but if I am only doing productive things then I end up burning myself out and feeling like my life is repetitive. That's why sometimes I question whether what it is I am thinking of doing is considered a hobby or not.

How Much Free Time do I Have?

I really had to start asking myself this because sometimes my expectations for what I could do in the amount of time that I had would become unrealistic. By acknowledging how much free time I actually have, I can be happier with what I spend my time doing. For example, when A is at school, sometimes I think it is a lot of time and that I will have enough time to do everything that I would like to do when he is not around. However, I noticed my free time always ended a lot quicker than I had expected because I tried to cram so much into that time frame. Now, I know that after I drop him off, I can go for a run, eat breakfast, do a load of dishes, do an assignment, read part of my book, and then either read more of my book, take a nap, or work on a little bit more homework.

How Many Hobbies do I Have?

By recognizing how many hobbies I have, I can make time to spend a little bit of time doing each one instead of letting one hobby take up too much time. For example, my hobbies do change but currently I enjoy reading, running, doing yoga, and meditating. When I have free time, I try to take time to do more than one of these activities.

What Would I do if I had More Free Time?

By thinking up what I would do if I had more free time, I have a better idea of how to spend unexpected free time when it does come up. For example, when I have more kid-free time than I thought I would, then I can go along with what I have been waiting to do instead of going back and forth with myself on how best to use my time.

When do I Usually get Free Time?

I like to prepare myself for when I do have free time I am good to go. My free time is usually when A is at school so I know that I will be going for a run during that time. I make sure I have some clean running clothes and know what distance I intend to do so that I don't have to worry about it when the free time comes up.

What is my Hobby?

Reminding myself of what my hobbies are helps me keep coming up with related ideas to fill my time. For example, being that writing a blog is a hobby of mine, I spend some of my free time coming up with topic ideas, trying out things that relate to the topic, and writing about the topics.

Why do I Like my Hobbies so Much?

Thinking about what it is about my hobbies that I like so much can help me balance my time amongst them. For example, I like reading because I learn new things when i read. This does not balance well with homework because both are forms of educating myself which can exhaust me mentally if I do too much of that. Running is something I enjoy in the sense that I am keeping myself physically healthy and am working towards a goal so it balances well with reading because it uses different kinds of resources from me.

How Often do I do my Hobby?

How often I do my hobby tells me whether I do it often enough. For example, with running I was only doing it about once a week at one point which wasn't consistent enough to improve or work towards my goal. I bumped it up to three good runs each week and now I am quickly getting better and am on my way to completing a marathon.

What Activity Would I do if I had Unlimited Money?

Thinking about what I would do if I had unlimited money not only keeps me dreaming but also helps me come up with cheaper alternatives. For example, if I had unlimited money, I would plan really fancy events where I go all out by renting a nice place, decorating down to the details, having the best foods to fit the theme, and handing out fancy favors to all who attended. Obviously, I do not have nearly the money for something like that, but I do try to put in some effort to plan okay-ish family events. They by far are not the fanciest but I try to put thought into each component. For example, I'm planning the family Christmas party this year and luckily I have Christmas decorations and lots of lights, I plan to have some fun activities for anyone to participate in, and I try to do it all in a way that isn't over the top expensive.