Approaches to Carving Out Time from a 24-Hour Day

Hello, I am Akane Takatsuka.

Thank you for visiting "Daily Akane" again today!

Well, lately I have suddenly felt that "somehow, my free time has increased."

Having time left over on a day off with nothing to do, I thought, "Alright, maybe I'll do some reading..." and picked up the new book by the person I admire, Emiko Inagaki,"A Life Without Buying."

Since I am already an enthusiastic fan, buying it was a given, but when I read Ms. Inagaki's books,

I see she is doing fieldwork, such as walking through fields and mountains to look for wild plants, which also resonates with the late Yuriko Tojo (a master of natural healing), whom I deeply respect.

And, perhaps because I am a minimalist, when it comes to the classic hobbies of minimalists in the world, it is overwhelmingly"taking walks."

Everyone is going outside and walking so much! (;'∀')

Taking walks, or treasure hunting in parks and riverbeds—these are elegant ways of spending time that many people would likely say in unison, "I can't do that unless I have time! (;'∀')"—yet pioneers like Ms. Inagaki are practicing them with ease. *Moreover, as the title of Ms. Inagaki's book suggests, it costs absolutely nothing.

Thinking, "I have time to spare (;'∀')," I end up opening Amazon to look for new books, which makes me realize that I still have a long way to go in my training.

The real subject I want to address here today is not the talk of "spending or not spending money," but the fact that "when did everyone become such 'time-rich' people?"

How to create time

Taking a walk, without even deciding on a purpose, just going around and returning to the same place. I cannot help but feel great ease, richness, and overwhelming elegance in that way of using time that does not involve productivity, which is "movement."

In the past, for me,walking meant only "going to the office" or "coming home."With the brain I had when I was sacrificing myself as a corporate warrior, I don't think I could have ever reached this state of "just walking."

How to become "time-rich" while being a company employee?

However, you must not give up there, thinking, "I'm a company employee with a workplace, so it's impossible for me."

"While being an employee hired by a company, how can I create 'time' for myself?"

I have thought seriously about this difficult problem and have put it into practice.

Here is my approach that I arrived at as a result.

1. First, thoroughly "organize"

Looking back, when my belongings were cluttered, my way of working was also somewhat cluttered. My PC desktop was like an avalanche of data, and I felt like I was always desperately searching for files. This wasteful act of "searching for things" wears down the brain's CPU and is incredibly exhausting (;';).

In the process of adopting a minimalist life, I also thoroughly organized my work data and documents.

Organize folders neatly.
Number documents.
Clarify types.

And purge (separate) what is currently in progress from past archives.

As a result of calmly proceeding with this "systematization of organization," surprisingly, the speed of my work itself and how I use my time have changed completely.

2. The bonus of "mornings becoming earlier"

When work and the mind are organized, the brain no longer overheats during the day. Perhaps thanks to that, I naturally spend less time lazing around at night, and the time I wake up in the morning has gradually become earlier. Recently,I even find myself waking up in the 4 o'clock or 3 o'clock hour in the morning (;';).

During this quiet morning time, I write essays for my hobby, note, and when that is finished, I start my work in a natural flow, feeling like, "I might as well organize today's emails while I'm at it."

As a result, a miracle-like phenomenon has begun to occur frequently where my important tasks for the day are "almost finished" by 9:00 AM, when the average office worker starts moving.

On days when I have plenty of time left over, I can even elegantly decide to go for a "morning walk" or do some "maintenance at the gym," following the example of my minimalist seniors. The overwhelming usefulness of the morning is formidable.

Q. Question to myself: Is it better to have a shorter commute?

Here, I would like to touch a little on "commute time," which many business people are concerned about. In the past, I sincerely believed that "the shorter the commute time, the better."

However, I recently realized something. As I mentioned earlier,

1. "Thoroughly organize work"
2. "Make mornings earlier (shift time)"

If you combine these two hacks, you can sometimes apply a "boost close to double speed" to this absolute constraint of "commute time"!

My parents' home is quite far away, and in the past, there was a period when I commuted to work from that distant area. One day, the train I happened to take to go back to my parents' home was arapid trainclose to the "first train" of the early morning.

When I tried taking this, the physical travel time was shortened surprisingly, and it was a huge lesson that "just by shifting the time a little, such a comfortable rapid route can come to life!"

The return route that I assumed took 1 hour and 30 minutes could be completed lightly in 1 hour. It was the moment I learned through experience that "moving is tough, but the approach of 'trying to design by shifting the time you move' is totally viable."

Conclusion

To summarize everything discussed so far,

• "Organizing work" = Giving the brain a clear framework to eliminate noise

• "Waking up early in the morning" = Dramatically reducing brain fatigue and hacking sleep quality

For me, these two actions have undoubtedly become the ultimate system error avoidance method (hack) for "increasing time in a day." I highly recommend this life hack to anyone who feels suffocated by being chased by busyness.

Let's continue to drive our own worlds with a cool face today, while cherishing the margin we've created in our morning (;'∀').

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