Two Tips to Help you Make the Best Use of Your Spare Time

We work 8 or 9 hours a day just to have a little spare time. However, in the end, we waste this precious time we worked so hard for.

Note: This article is by Darius Foroux, who gives us two tips for investing your free time in a way that helps you achieve your goals.

Looking at your spare time with this perspective will make you realize that not investing it in something useful is a vain way of living, but everyone who has a 9 to 5 job lives this way.

Three years ago, I became clearly aware of this fact. I was working for an AI research company in London while working on my own projects in the afternoon and evening.

I was getting on the train after a busy working day, while reading On The Shortness Of Life, by the stoic philosopher Seneca. As I would consider it a life-changing book.

I have met many people who have admitted that Seneca influenced their lives positively. Mostly because of Seneca's simple and direct writing style.

I was sitting on the train like the millions of other people who arrive daily in London, and my situation wasn't dire enough to consider turning my life upside down. I was living an ordinary monotonous life, and there was nothing special about it.

However, while reading that book, I stumbled across a phrase that made me meditate deeply, "the problem is not that life is short, but that we waste a lot of time. Life is long enough and we have plenty of time to achieve our goals if we invest our time wisely."

It was then that I began to think about how I would invest my time. I used to work in a job that I had no passion for, and I would travel about two and a half hours on the train every day, and then spend my spare time hanging out with co-workers, or watching TV, and sometimes gossiping.

However, we work hard to earn two things, money and some spare time for rest, which is normal. But the unfortunate truth is that we waste our spare time on activities that are not useful at all.

Seneca goes on to say, "when we waste our time on mundane things and useless activities, we eventually regret it when it's too late. The problem isn't that our life is short, but rather that we waste a lot of it, and not because we don't have an abundance of time, but rather that we waste it because life is long enough if we know how to live it."

At some point you have to take a brave stand and decide to change:

1. Stop working just for a living.
2. Stop wasting your spare time.

Only then you will be ready to invest your spare time purposefully. Suppose you're currently 35 years old, and you will maintain your good health until you become 70 years old.

So you have 35 years to spend doing whatever you like, that's your life after all, but it's not a good idea to waste 35 years doing useless things.

So the problem, as we can see, is not the lack of time, but the way you invest it. We work so hard to have some spare time, but we can't do anything useful during that time because we're so worn out. When you lead a life that drains your energy, you won't have much energy to enjoy your weekends.

You must avoid this at all costs, as it is pointless to have a lot of money and spare time while being unable to invest them.

Whatever your job, you must be able to lead a productive life

You may be unable to quit your job for several reasons, and that’s undoubtedly true. You have to be practical, but that doesn’t mean it's impossible to live a life that makes you feel energized. Never believe in deceiving lies that will decrease your self-confidence, as without having self-confidence, you won't be able to achieve your goals.

When I quit my job I went back to my hometown and started living my life on a budget, focusing on improving my company and later on my blog.

Prioritize learning rather than wasting your spare time on mundane things

Surely, you want to lead a meaningful life, but without any sacrifices, and this is impossible, it's unrealistic to have fun throughout the week and develop your skills at the same time.

You need these two tips if you want to achieve valuable things in life

1. Focus on your goal

What is something you want to achieve in life? What do you aspire to get? And what are your motives?

2. Keep working

After you realize what your goal is, the next step is to persevere in working until you achieve your goal, and after achieving it, set another goal and work towards it.

You may need to achieve success in other things, and this depends on what you want to achieve, but focus and perseverance are the main elements in every success. As no human being is able to achieve their goals without having a huge amount of focus and perseverance.

In conclusion

Remember that you only have one life, and it is definitely not for fun and entertainment only; You must find something worth living for. So, as Seneca said, life is long if you know how to invest it. That is, when you do things of value, you invest time instead of wasting it. So choose activities that help you achieve your goals, and spend most of your time doing them.