1: Forget Snooze Alarms
You know that alarm you set every morning? The one that goes off on the weekends because you’re going to go jogging? If you haven’t used it, and I mean actually followed it in the past two weeks, get rid of it. Might as well not interrupt your sleep and ironically you might actually wake up a touch earlier without it beeping you awake in the middle of the dream where Kanye finally acknowledges you as a rap-star who can fly.
2: Spend Time like Money
If you’re spending three hours a day playing Fifa or watching television, that may be fine. Do you enjoy it enough to spend your time on it or are you killing time, which is the same as burning money? If it’s the latter, do anything else, including napping. Naps are like depositing time in the bank for later.
3: Set your Clock Seven Minutes Earlier
I do, at least, and the psychological boost of waking up every morning going “Woah!” and thinking I’m late is better than any alarm, and being able to glance at it going “oh it’s late” and then getting to subtract is a lot more fun than doing the other. It’s a great way to set a perpetual seven-minute head-start in your day.
4: Figure out your Exchange Rate
Would you spend two hours working for five dollars an hour? Maybe, maybe not, but what if it was to save money? Would you drive around town to find a slightly cheaper gas-station, trading twelve minutes for two bucks? Is that Taxi really worth the saved twenty minutes right now? Money is flexible as is time in its value at the moment- half an hour with a beautiful girl is worth way, way more than seven hours on a plane- but it’s good to set a baseline in your head for what you’re willing to spend your time on. Pro-tip? Worrying about that girl texting you back isn’t a good way to spend it.
5: What’s Time to a Kid?
Lastly, I’d like to tell you not to worry about time. I know it’s counter to the article at large, but to obsess over time wasted and time spent is the surest way to waste time. Will it be worth it to spend that hour in the car to go to the lake and the hour back? Maybe not. Will it be worth it when Sean has to double-back and you’re tapping your foot anxious to go? Maybe, maybe not. But the potential for greatness and good times means you sometimes should make bad choices because hey, what else are you doing today? At this age time can always be sacrificed to one thing: pursuit of the timeless. That’s one thing the exchange rate doesn’t account for.