There’s Always Time for Personal Time
Today I’m linking up with my friend Andrea at DreAm heART sMart ArT for her blog challenge. The prompt is “deliberate.”
I want to share a topic that’s very personal to me—it’s personal time! Har har har!
What? That was funny. Fine…moving on.
Being a productive, successful person isn’t all about rushing from one task to the next (which sounds like no fun at all).
It’s important to make a deliberate decision to do something for yourself and set aside a few minutes every day for personal enjoyment and fun. You are worth it!
Personal time is just as essential as brushing your teeth and all your other daily self-care routines.
And scheduling your personal time in the morning will pep you up and put you in a good mood for the rest of the day. If possible, don’t wait until the evening to spend some time on yourself—you may be too exhausted by then!
A few ways to enjoy your personal time
- Start a new hobby
- Write in your gratitude journal
- Draw or doodle
- Read a chapter of a book
- Flip through a magazine
- Organize your photos
- Plan your next vacation
- Sit quietly and relax
There’s a reason I’m not suggesting you spend your time using electronic media. Cruising the internet, watching TV, or playing video games might be fun, but it’s so easy to get caught up in those activities and mindlessly click through gossip sites or watch endless reruns.
Watching the news can also put you in a bad mood since so many broadcasts focus on war, death, crime, or political mudslinging.
What about spending your personal time with your partner or a friend? Eh, I don’t recommend it. You can’t expect another person to be your “everything” and enjoy all the same leisure activities that you do.
Wouldn’t you rather schedule time for yourself AND separate time for your partner or friend? There’s a definite benefit to being by yourself.
You shouldn’t count exercise as personal time either. Sorry! I know I’m offending a lot of fitness trainers, but hear me out. I’m assuming you’re already getting daily exercise as part of your self-care routine, right?
Some of you might get real enjoyment out of exercising—that’s great! But do something else special for yourself too. Have your exercise and then have your personal time.
And if you hate exercising, use your personal time as a reward for surviving another workout. Just don’t spend it eating a ton of cupcakes.
Be deliberate with your personal time. Schedule it. Own it. Enjoy it!
How do you like to spend your personal time?
How many minutes a day do you spend doing something just for you?
3 Simple Steps to Become a Productivity Superstar
Dump your excuses, transform your habits, and become the most productive person you know.
Hi Sage! Thank you for beeing on my blog today! How wonderful! I love your photo on top! How exiting our retreat has been in this gorgeous hotel. I take time for myself every after noon at least for 15 minutes- that means, I sit in silence. I feel so fullfilled after these 15 mins, it is like my batteries are charged again. And 15 minutes- every one can have them, right? No excuses, just do it! Love and see you next week with the topic: deepen. (Which is my word for 2013) Andrea
You’re right–everyone can take at least 15 minutes for themselves. I’m having so much fun with your blog challenges, Andrea! 🙂
Oh yes, personal time is extremely important to me! I think being so introverted makes me need it that much more, otherwise I get really drained.
I like to spend mine with photography & reading. 🙂
I’d say most of my personal time is spent reading, with a mix of novels and self-help books.
My personal time is the time I spend on my commute to and from work (45 minutes each way). I don’t even turn on the radio, it’s just me, myself and I 😉
I love that! I come up with the best ideas when I turn off the music or TV and just sit with my thoughts. Good idea to make your commute a time for self-reflection.
I’m definitely in need of some personal time! I feel like I’ve been really wrapped up in doing everything for everyone that I’ve forgotten about myself lately. I am definitely liking the idea of planning my next vacation, which will probably happen for my 30th birthday later this year 🙂 I really wanted to road trip but I don’t think I’ll get all that time off so I’m probably going to end up going to Chicago for a long weekend to visit one of my closest friends. Planning that will be a great way to spend some personal time!
Planning a vacation is sometimes just as fun as going on the vacation. The anticipation makes me enjoy the whole experience even more. Chicago is a great place to visit (I used to live there). There are so many restaurants, museums, concerts, festivals, live events, etc.