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Tommy Dixon's avatar

Loved this Arman. Like you, I feel a lot of pressure to use my free time well. I maintain a religious respect for people who use their time to build skills and cultivate interests outside of work

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Arman Khodadoost's avatar

Glad you enjoyed it Tommy. Have you found any habits or tips or tricks to help you use your free time better? Always looking for new ways to approach it.

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Abelardo Mendo's avatar

For me, carving out that 1 hour a day became easier when I focused on what I shouldn't be doing instead of what I should be doing.

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Marie Vandoorne's avatar

I believed I had to win the lottery for soooo long! I thought only then things where possible.

Your post inspired me to write one about winning the lottery :D

Since 2,5 years I have quit social media, and that action has lead to great things - one of them is writing online. I still waste time but, it's not that bad anymore and writing gives me a lot of clarity.

Loved this post! You have an new subscriber!

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Arman Khodadoost's avatar

Its a silly trick our minds play on us. We can all start from exactly where we are right now.

Thats an amazing accomplishment. I have also been off social media for a couple of years and it was such a great decision. I still love wasting some of my time but hopefully a little less than i used to.

its great to have you here!

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CansaFis Foote's avatar

...make your life make your life...

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Arman Khodadoost's avatar

simple yet profound

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Rick Lewis's avatar

"98% satisfaction guaranteed" - how many of these cheeky close captions have you created and what percentage of your free time do you spend creating them? Do you have a list? I'd like to see them all. I need to work on applying some creativity to these myself. IMO this is a really good use of free time. : )

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Arman Khodadoost's avatar

Haha I always wonder if anyone notices those. I'm glad you did.

I only spend a couple of minutes at the end trying to come up with something clever.

I don't have a list but should put one together.

Feel free to steal any and all that catch your attention :)

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Theo's avatar

Nice bit of perspectivizing (that's a word, right?).

I had a very chilled but mega high-functioning teacher at school who, when I was in one of my more flustered moments, said to me, "It's easy – there are 24 hours in a day, so that means you have 8 hours for work, 8 hours sleep and 8 hours off."

I was dumbfounded and a bit annoyed at the undeniability of his logic, and I still can't work out why days never feel that simple!

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Arman Khodadoost's avatar

Haha I've never heard of that word but I love it! And I'll admit, most of our days aren't that simple. We all have obligations that eat away at those 8 free hours. But I think most of us could find an hour a day to dedicate towards some creative activity we've been putting off.

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Chris Cordry, LMFT's avatar

Hey Arman--fun and inspiring post, as always. I think for most people, 8 hours of free time a day is an over-estimate: many of us spend additional hours commuting, buying groceries, taking care of children, washing dishes, and so on. But we still have hours at our discretion--with the average American still watching about 3 hours of TV per day. Making 1 hour to do something meaningful is very doable. Your post reminds me of the classic book How to Live on 24 Hours a Day by Arnold Bennett (1907). I think you'd enjoy it.

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Arman Khodadoost's avatar

Thank you Chris. And yes I agree with you. Plenty of those remaining 8 hours are eaten up by other obligations. But when you include weekends, holidays, and time off, I think the math is still roughly accurate. And when you think about all the time we spend sitting in front of our screens, we all could find an hour a day.

I've heard of that book but have never read it. The fact that it was written over a hundred years ago makes me want to check it out. Thanks!

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Jack Dixon's avatar

So much truth here, especially this: "It’s tempting to think if you can’t dedicate a huge chunk of time to do something you’ve always wanted, it’s not even worth starting."

All you need to do is start. Small blocks of time compound exponentially. And if you wait, the only thing that will happen a year from now is you wishing you had started RIGHT NOW!

Great writing, Arman.

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May 10, 2024
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Arman Khodadoost's avatar

Thank you Nadia that means more than you know. Humorous and insightful is the exact combo im going for.

Walking and reading are two of my favorite leisure activities too!

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May 10, 2024
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Arman Khodadoost's avatar

Haha I haven't but I have seen people doing this and wondered how they dont fall flat on their faces!

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May 15, 2024
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Arman Khodadoost's avatar

alright im gonna give it a try

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