Having enough “me time” in any given day is one of the biggest struggles for so many people. I’ve certainly been feeling that crunch as I’m getting back into a proper workflow and realize that the amount of work I have to do is extensive. Beyond that, there are several other factors at work that are outside of your own control, like social status, race, and whether you have a car or not, which can have an impact on how much time you have in a given day.

But regardless of those circumstances, I believe that anyone can create more “me time” if they have a strategy and a particular mindset that encourages developing it. And this is something that I think anyone can adopt and modify to their own life circumstances and situations.

Both in terms of creating that time as well as the activities that you do during that time allotted.

In terms of creating that time, we get stuck in our heads that in order to have more time, we need to be making more money and push ourselves into a lifestyle that makes us freer.

While it’s true that having more money, let alone stable finances, will give us more time, it runs counter to a lot of human behaviour.

You see this time and time again when people either win the lottery or get a raise from their job. While those are exciting times, a lot of human behaviour tends to snap to spending that money. It’s why it’s common for lottery winners to become broke, or when you get a pay raise, you feel the urge to move to a better apartment or get a new car.

It’s not always about working more but rather working smarter.

In order to create time, you want to make sure the goals that you are pursuing are worth your time and genuinely move the needle forward. This ensures that the time you are spending working is well spent getting you closer to those goals. If they’re not, you need to find a way to make that happen that’s efficient with your life.

In terms of the “me time” activities, the simple principle still applies. In this case it’s reminding yourself that not every bit of “me time” has to involve spending money on something. Sure, manicures, a facial, or having a spa day is nice, but you could try other things. Play your favourite song, write in your journal, or do some yoga.

Stemming from the previous point, one of the best ways to measure if something is worthwhile is the amount of time it takes compared to what you gain from it. Obviously there is no way of knowing every little cost and benefit completing something will give you, but we can all get some general ideas from the nature of the task and the goal that it’s trying to fulfill. And it all culminates into a single question:

If the amount of effort you’re putting into it isn’t getting you further, what will?

Assessing your time comes down to being more adaptable and smarter with your time. When you are working on your goals, it’s important that you know how long certain tasks will take or give yourself sufficient time to work on those goals.

In essence, it’s a balancing game between the work towards your goals and the personal “me time” that you want to be giving yourself on a daily basis.

Managing your time in this manner doesn’t mean you have to be incredibly strict with yourself, but generally knowing how long the necessary tasks and how long passion projects take you can help you balance everything better.

While I’m not a big supporter of multitasking, there are some areas where it is possible to incorporate this strategy. That possibility being that the task that you’re doing is mundane in nature.

Household chores? Listen to some music or your favourite podcast while you do them. Need some exercise? Go for a walk and use the time to reflect and ponder. Have to get groceries? If you’re taking public transit, you’ve got a window of opportunity to decompress or jot down some notes on your phone.

Doubling up on activities really comes down to finding the pockets of time in your life where you could be doing something minor. But most importantly, that’s if you want to be doing it in the first place. Sometimes it’s necessary as life throws curve balls at us, but it still comes down to your choice and whether you want to be engaging with that or not.

What I would consider a more viable strategy would be to turn to help from other people. Getting more “me time” can be a matter of the people you know and how willing they are to help you out. To our core, we are collaborative creatures and want to be helping other people in most situations.

And so it’s really up to us to cultivate that sense of camaraderie and mutual aid wherever we can.

There is the standard of calling a friend or family member to help with a favour or two, but it doesn’t have to stop there. Recently, I had a high school classmate I ran into recommend me a few day jobs I could be working for while I work on these passion projects of mine. If your friend has a car and is readily available, you can pay for gas and have your own occasional and personal taxi to take you to places in a pinch.

Thinking a little outside of the box for some convenient solutions can get you far, especially when you recognize that you’re not alone in your struggles.

More specifically, you want to be determining just how much “me time” you actually want to be having in the first place. And I think that is very important given that as adults, we should still be able to relax and have some whimsy and personal time to ourselves as we did as kids.

The only difference between then and now is the responsibilities that we now have.

So getting ahead of planning when you want to be enjoying your personal time is a good way of ensuring you do get to enjoy it. At its core it’s a matter of setting boundaries and expectations for yourself while balancing everything else in your life.

But probably the biggest aspect to keep in mind with having more “me time” is to not only own that time but also to remove any pressure you feel from that time. After all, so much need to work and hustle culture talking points have been embedded into our own mindsets that it feels like we need to “make up” that time whenever we decide to relax or do something nice for ourselves.

What a lot of these techniques do is help us reorient ourselves to start actually living and enjoying our lives. It might not be as grand as what we’re striving for, and it might not be much, but these little moments of “me time” are opportunities to live with what we’ve got. To make the most of it.

So reminding yourself that your personal time is sacred and that you shouldn’t feel pressured during it can be the pause you need. Furthermore, it can give you the focus and energy you need to tackle those pressures in the first place.

Who knows, maybe you’ll figure out another path that’s better.

Getting time for yourself is something you shouldn’t be feeling guilty of offering to yourself. Between work, our passion projects, and other obligations, it can be difficult to make time for ourselves and do everything in a day. But by keeping your mind open, practicing these simple strategies, and trusting yourself that you’ll address these issues, you can ease some of that pressure and start forging your life in the way that you want to.