8 proven hacks to gain 10+ extra hours a week

Are you struggling with time management each week? Do you feel like you don’t have enough time? What if I told you that with these 8 proven hacks, you can gain 10+ extra hours per week?

It’s true! There are techniques and habits you can adopt that will entirely change your weekly timeline and earn you extra time. And time is the most valuable asset we have.

What would you do with these 10 extra hours? Would you spend more time working, or would you spend more time with loved ones? Whatever your situation is, following these tactics will earn you an estimated 10 hours per week.

Let’s get to it:

Fix your sleeping schedule

Adults need only 6 hours per night of sleep in order to be well relaxed. If you’re sleeping more than that, then you’re wasting time.

Wake up earlier

Imagine waking up every day an hour earlier than normal and using that time to get things done. That means that you will gain 7 extra hours. With that much time, you can start a side hustle or a hobby!

Try to wake up earlier with a certain goal that you need to accomplish. Even half an hour still saves you 3.5 hours per week! Plus, in the morning, you are more focused and energised to get the hard tasks out of the way.

Stop pressing the snooze button. Every time you press the snooze button, you re-enter the sleeping cyrcle meaning that you will wake up more tired and less focused.

Decide the time you will wake up. When the alarm hits, close it and stand up right away. Or count to 3 and then stand up. Whatever works for you, but don’t press the snooze button.

Morning Routine

No social media

Do not use any social media right away when you wake up. I know that you will want to check your phone and messages, but most people have the habit of checking social media.

You are wasting a lot of time and even checking other people’s lives on social media instead of focusing on your own and your goals. What is more important? To have a productive day or check your Instagram stories?

Plus, with everything going on around the world, you fill your mind with outside noise. Focus on your own instead.

So, let’s say you open social media and scroll for 15 minutes in the morning. But, instead of doing that, you stand up and start your day right away.

15 minutes a day x 7 days = 105 minutes, which is 1.17 hours a week!

When you calculate it weekly, you can notice how much time you actually waste mindlessly scrolling, even if it feels like a few minutes. Use your time wisely, as it adds up over time.

Start a morning routine

The most efficient way to start your day is to have a structured morning routine. One that will help you with your goals and also give you energy. Instead of waking up and opening social media, you have a step-by-step routine that you can use to start your day right away. It takes off the stress of thinking about what to do, as you have already planned it. Everyone may have a different routine, but the most popular steps you can do are:

Drink water
Wash your face (or shower)

Brush your teeth
Do your skincare; or eat a nutritious breakfast;
Get dressed up and start your day

Depending on your goals or needs, you could also add:

Write in a journal (This is the journal I swear by to practise gratitude for under 10 dollars.)
Do a small workout

Read 10 pages of a non-fiction book
Go over your daily goals
Go outside for a walk/run

Drink coffee

First, evaluate what is important to you. Do not try to do everything all at once. It is impossible. If you don’t have a morning routine, try small and then build it from there.

Do not try everything at once as it can get overwhelming. Focus on yourself and your goals. Do not clutter the first hours of your day with outside pointless noise like social media. You are the main character, so act like it!

Turn off all notifications

Go to your settings right now and turn off all non-human notifications. Having a phone full of pointless notifications may give you the illusion that you are busy but you are not.

Or, it is annoying when you try to work, and your phone beeps because Shein has a big discount. You won’t miss anything, if you don’t receive them. You just lose time.

Let’s calculate!

You receive 20 app-related notifications per day. You pick up your phone 10 out of 20 times to check your notifications. You open your phone 5 times out of 10 and end up mindlessly scrolling for 20 minutes.

20 minutes x per day = 140 minutes per week! Which is 2,33 hours per week!

With these hours, you could learn a new language!

Don’t even get me started on doom-scrolling in general! Everyone does it, especially on TikTok, but it is such a big waste of time. I have caught myself scrolling and procrastinating for hours on TikTok and getting nothing done.

Be careful where you spend your time online, and try to eliminate scrolling without a purpose just because you are bored. Delete apps that are too distracting; your future self will thank you.

I won’t calculate doom-scrolling because it’s different for everyone. But, keep track of your time online for just a week and you will be shocked with the results!

Take use of your waiting time

Now that we have stopped doom-scrolling and wasting time, it’s time to take use of every hour of the day. Most people have an hour or two in their day where they commute, or is a waiting time. Especially if you commute, it’s perfect for taking the time to read a book, learn something or listen to a podcast.

Make use of that time that is wasted anyways to better yourself. Bring a book, or study a language on Duolingo, or do the brain-excersing apps that are out there. If you are the driver, you have the limited option of listening to a podcast. But, there exists a podcast for everything nowadays so you will find something you like.

If you commute 30 minutes per day:

30 minutes x per day= 210 minutes which are 3.5 hours!

You have an extra 3.5 hours per week to educate yourself or accomplish one of your goals!

Do all the tasks in bulk to save time

Most people underestimate how time-saving bulking tasks can be! But, by doing most tasks in bulk, you save time in the long run.

For example, if you bulk-cook all your week’s meals, you will spend one whole afternoon mass-cooking but everyday you will save time on cooking and washing everything. You will only just need to reheat the food.

Second example, if you are a blogger like me, it’s easier to do every task in bulk. Like, if I want to create my Pinterest graphics, I won’t create only one the day I’m posting. I will create 5-10 designs at the same time and mass-schedule them.

This way, I am more focused on creating the designs. I am also more focused, as I am doing one specific task, and do not switch from one task to another.

Limit multitasking

This is also related to bulk-tasking. Focus on one task each time.

Every day work can get hectic, we sometimes think that by multitasking we can achieve more. But that’s not the case.

By multitasking, you lose focus and increase your errors. You can’t be focused on two things at the same time. It splits your attention to different things and you end up doing a bad job at both things.

Instead, focus on one thing at a time. It’s the only way to be efficient with your time and not losing valuable time.

This can’t be calculated, but the results are long-term.

Organise everything

Organise everything! And, I mean everything!

Having a cluttered space, or a cluttered laptop will only lose you time and frustratute you. Start organising your space from your wardrobe to your kitchen. Everything should have a designated space.

Spend even 10 minutes every day just putting things in their right space. Having a clean and tidy surrounding will increase your momentum and focus.

That is also the case with online space. Take the time to organise your folders, your documents and anything else you use.

I always keep a minimal desktop space and a nice picture in the background. Delete things you don’t need. Clean your email subscriptions, so you don’t miss the emails you care about.

You may also like my post on how I use toDoist to organise my whole life.

Use technology to automate as many things as you can. Especially if your work is mostly online. Most things now can be automated with simple apps or scripts.

Use that to your advantage. Stop losing any valuable time doing things that are not important. For example, if you are a social media manager, use a tool to schedule your posts, instead of posting manually every time.

We live in a year that technology takes a big part of our lives. Stop using it to scroll on TikTok and find ways to take advantage of everything it has to offer.

Learn to say no

The most important word. No! Most of us, it is difficult to get out of things and say no to people. We end up losing time on doing things we don’t want to or going places we don’t like.

You need to start learning no!

No to things that you don’t want to do. No to people you don’t like. Do not waste time on anything that doesn’t serve you or doesn’t bring you close to your goals.

Do not be a people-pleaser. Time is our most valuable asset. Use it on people or things you care about.

Summary

There is a famous saying that goes “The days go slow but the years go fast” Use your time wisely, on things you care about. Time goes incredibly fast.

With these tips, you can realistically gain 10 + hours a week and more! Sleep a bit earlier, do not touch your phone and start your morning routine. Turn off all non-human notifications and take use of your commute time. Stop multitasking and do the important tasks in bulk. Organise everything online and offline and use the technology to automate any tasks possible. Start saying no to things you don’t want to do!

Leave a comment if this was helpful to you! 🙂