Do you ever feel that time is going too fast? In our busy lives, we may struggle to find time to do the things we want to do, such as pursuing hobbies or meeting up with friends, without having to compromise our sleep or study time.

If there are 24 hours in a day, a secondary school student would spend around 8 hours in school (including the commute), an average of 3 hours a day doing homework or pursuing extracurriculars and around a total time of 1-2 hours getting ready in the morning, taking a shower and eating. Perhaps an average of 1 hour every day scrolling on social media or watching TV or other activities. And a teenager should be getting 8-10 hours of sleep. That’s 21-24 hours of a 24 hour day. Of course, there will be massive variation between individuals, but no wonder some of us struggle to find spare time.

So how could we make time?

The first thing we can do is change our perception of time as blocks of one hour. Instead of saying, “I can complete this task in less than an hour” and spending the full hour, maybe think, “I can complete this task in 45 minutes” and aim to get it done quicker than what you initially thought. After four of those tasks, you would find you have a whole hour to spare.

Another way is to acknowledge the time we spend simply transitioning between activities or physical places. For those who make timetables and routines, sometimes it may be hard to stick to those because you have underestimated the time needed to get things done. It may be tiny things, such as walking down the stairs to the kitchen or finding a pen, but over time, time will add up.

The final way is that we should try not to waste time unnecessarily. The amount of time we spend scrolling on social media or playing online games or doing meaningless tasks adds up. I’m not saying to cut it out of your life completely but making boundaries can prevent you from being distracted and for a few minutes to turn into hours.

Time is scarce but it is still possible to balance making meaningful memories with work or school duties, as well as duties to look after ourselves. Only then, could we live our best lives.