“How can I find time to…?”
“If I could just find some time to…?”
“Could you find time to…?”
Expressions like these are commonplace in today’s busy world. The frustrating part is not the actual “doing” of the thing you’re supposed to be finding time for, it’s the actual act of… finding the time!
I’ve been playing with a little life hack that I like to call: Recognizing and Maximizing “Found Time” (or RAMFT™).
So what is “Found Time”?
Found Time™ can be recognized in the moments where we realize that we’ve just saved a bunch of time.
Examples where small amounts of time can be found:
- You’re standing in line at the grocery store and the customer in front of you pulls out a huge wallet of pennies. Another till magically opens up and you’re spared at least 5 minutes of counting and recounting change.
- You’re on a conference call and it gets cut short by 20 minutes because the client had a bad tuna fish sandwich and needed to go.
- You’re in stop-and-go traffic and at the last second you see a shortcut which saves you at least 10 minutes.
Total Found Time: 35 minutes
(Go clean the bathroom!)
Examples where larger amounts of time can be found:
- You’re given an hour to research something on the interwebs and your mate taps you on the shoulder to give you the exact answer you were looking for.
- Kid goes to bed a couple of hours early
(Hey, I wrote this blog post didn’t I?). - You’ve writing a contract and then discover that you can reuse a previous contract and change the names around. Possible savings of up to 6 hours!
Total Found Time: 9 Hours
(Add a new feature to your web-app!)
Maybe not the best examples, but you get the idea (I hope?).
Templates, systems and other productivity tricks can help maximize the opportunities for Found Time™.
What works for you?
