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Are you tired of feeling like your days are just work and sleep? Do you want to build a business, spend time with loved ones, or learn a new skill, but never seem to have the time? Many people feel like their evenings disappear, but there are ways to take control of your free time and use it for what truly matters to you. Here are five solutions that can help you stop wasting your evenings and start living a more fulfilling life.
The first step is to break the link between your feelings and your actions. It’s easy to let a bad day at work turn into a wasted evening of social media scrolling. But what if you could change that?
Instead of letting your mood control your actions, accept your feelings and then choose a different path. Change your thinking from “I’m tired, so I can’t” to “I’m tired, and I’m going to do it anyway.” You’ve already done this before. Think about times you went to the gym even when you didn’t feel like it, or pushed through work when you were exhausted.
Each time you take action despite not feeling like it, you prove to yourself that you can do it. The more you do this, the stronger you become. Your mood doesn’t have to control your evening. You can be tired and still be productive. It’s not about feeling good first; it’s about taking action no matter how you feel.
Everything we do can be sorted into three categories: fundamental, fun, and future.
Most people spend so much time on the fundamental tasks that there’s little time left for fun or future activities. While you can’t get rid of these chores, you can make them more efficient.
One way to do this is by doing tasks in bulk. For example, tackle all your household chores on a Sunday evening. Decide what you’re going to wear for the week. This may take a few hours, but it frees up your entire week. You could also try meal prepping. Spending a few hours on Sunday preparing meals can save you hours during the week.
Another way to save time is to get help with tasks. According to Forbes, we spend a lot of time communicating at work. Using tools like Grammarly can help you write better and faster, saving you time and effort. Grammarly is an AI writing tool that checks your writing, rephrases sentences, and even anticipates questions someone might have about your writing. This can be a big help when writing important documents, emails, or presentations.
Every minute you save on life admin is a minute you can invest in fun or future activities.
What happens when you get home from work? Do you drop your bag, sit on the couch, and lose hours to mindless TV watching? It’s easy to fall into this trap. Research shows that our behaviors are often triggered by our surroundings.
The key is to avoid the environment that triggers your evening-wasting routine. Pack your gym clothes and go straight to the gym after work. Take your laptop to a coffee shop and work on your side project. By changing where you go after work, you can change what you do with your entire evening.
Your morning hours are often more productive than your evening hours. In the evening, you’re tired, notifications are popping up, and friends are texting. It’s hard to focus.
In the morning, your mind is fresh, and the world is quiet. When you switch your side projects from evening to morning, you may get more done in 30 minutes than you do in two hours after work. We all have the same 24 hours, but not all hours are equal.
You won’t have the energy or motivation to be productive after work if you’re not taking care of yourself. Eating poorly, skipping exercise, and not getting enough sleep will hurt your productivity, mood, and motivation.
To perform at your best, make sure you’re exercising, eating healthy, getting 7-9 hours of sleep, drinking enough water, limiting screen time, and taking care of your mental health. You won’t realize how much better you can feel until you start taking care of yourself properly.
These five strategies can help you take control of your evenings and use your time for what truly matters. By rewriting your default settings, optimizing your life admin, changing your first destination, using your best hours, and respecting your foundation, you can stop wasting your evenings and start living a more fulfilling life.
What will you do with your reclaimed evenings?
How to Motivate Yourself: 11 Tips for Self Improvement
How To Motivate Yourself When You’re Not In The Mood
13 Habits of Self-Love Every Woman Should Adopt
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Aveline Lux is a visionary writer and digital storyteller, using her blog on CitiWell Shop as a platform to explore the intersection of creativity, commerce, and culture.
Traveling extensively across continents, Aveline draws inspiration from different cultures and global trends, infusing her articles with unique perspectives and practical insights.
Aveline enjoys photography, hiking through nature trails, and curating playlists that fuel her creative process.
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