Back from vacation! It would be natural for me to share a few details about our trip, but I wrote this before we even left, so details about our trip will have to wait for another day ;)
What I want to talk about today is what I would do if I had more time.
Life is all about priorities. You can’t do everything. I personally have a ton of things I would love to do, but simply do not have the time to do them all.
1) Reading
While I do read quite a few blogs every day of the week, as well as The Wall Street Journal, the truth is that I really don’t have much time to just sit down and read a book. If I sat down and spent a few hours making a list of books I want to read “someday,” the list would get pretty long. I know at one point I had a “to-read” list of 50-100 books on politics and economics alone.
2) Learning a second language
Despite all the time I spent in Spanish class throughout elementary school and high school, I never became fluent. I don’t know what it is about being able to speak a second language, but I am fascinated by the idea of it. I would love to sit down and learn Spanish, Japanese, or some other language, but I currently do not have the extra time to commit to it.
3) Art – Drawing in particular
I envy people who have time/talents/ability to “do” art full-time, or even part-time. I used to love to draw and even made it a resolution to draw more as part of my resolution to do a better job of relaxing in the new year. I’m pretty open to the kinds of art I would want to pursue, from painting to graphic design to photography.
4) Writing/Blogging
I definitely have made writing a priority, but I wish I had a little more time to write posts for this site. There are a number of post ideas I have that would be very time-intensive and are just not realistic at this time. These include sponsored giveaways exclusively on this site, travel-related posts, and various reviews that would take significant time to put together.
5) Programming
I self-taught myself advanced Excel skills that consist mainly of visual basic for applications (VBA). I would love to get better at VBA, and become much more efficient at writing code and automating processes. It has benefited me greatly at work, but I haven’t had much time at all to pursue it outside of work. If I was able to commit more time to learning VBA and expanding my knowledge to VBA in Access, Word, etc. I think it would benefit my career greatly.
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Before you respond with “make time for it!” keep in mind that I’m not saying I couldn’t make time for any of these things. Currently I am busy focusing on my career, working on my house, working on this site, and spending time with my wife and friends. While I hate to say it, I might be able to pursue more of these interests…”some day” ;)
What would you pursue if you had “extra” time?
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If you learn C++ or C# you will also understand VB without trying, plus C programmers are far more sought after.
@MonsterPiggyBank Thing is, I’m not a programmer, I’m an accountant. I can justify learning VB on the job but not C, since VB is applicable to what I do.
Good post DC and welcome back! I think reading would be at the top of my list as well. I know we all read blogs and other stuff online, but I hardly ever get the time to sit down and read a book. I think I have about 50 on my Kindle that have been waiting to be read some time.
@FrugalRules Thanks! I was able to read two books while on vacation which was awesome.
Tom Ferriss has a new book called 4 hour chef that talks about accelerated learning. He claims you can learn a language in 8-12 weeks. If you find some time to read maybe you’ll knock of number 1 and 2 :)
@MoneyMasterMom Ah yes he mentions that in 4 Hour Work Week as well. That book is definitely on my list.
@DC @ Young Adult Money @MoneyMasterMom Love it! The book is on the list of books… that you’ll never get to! :)
@moneymatters @MoneyMasterMom The list keeps growing!
For me some day is here. I would always put off things I wanted to do if I just didn’t sit down and do it. I dropped facebook and a few other annoying habits, which seemed to give me tons more time. I now feel like Super Woman with the ability to do so many more things during the day. With that said I still need to make learning Spanish, my violin, sign language and a few other things on my priority list.
@Financial Black Sheep I try to avoid facebook as much as possible, but I inevitably sink time into it :/ Need to prioritize better.
I definitely want to learn a second language! Need to make time for that :)
I hope you had a fun vacation! I wouldn’t give two cents to paint as in being artistic, but I do wish I could make more time to paint the interior walls of my house. After almost 9 years of living here, some of them really need some work. I have made it a point to read more this year, mostly biographies and fiction. It relaxes me more before bed than being on the computer.
If I had extra time I’d pursue cooking and blogging/freelancing more…or a way to invent more time?? :)
I agree with reading. The only time I make for it is when I go to bed, then I read two pages and fall asleep. I’m the queen of the 3/4 read books. I also wish I had more time to be social…but the problem there is two-fold. I could probably make more time for that, but my budget is SO tight. I’d also pursue more advertising opportunities on my blog…or just expand on ideas in general.
Cheryl and I were talking about this the other day. I want to get better at photography. I’d also love to learn to play Cribbage. My dad plays and I can never “get it.” I used to make a commitment to read fiction, but that’s dropped off. I’d like to get back to that if I ever get “extra time.”
There are a lot of things I wish I had more time to pursue. With an almost 3 year old boy at home it gets tough finding time for side pursuits:
– I wish i had more time for blogging – for writing, updating my site, tinkering with the design, learning CSS and other languages, finding ways to make more money, etc.
– I wish i had more time for playing music. I took violin lessons for 11+ years, and played for many more, and also play a little guitar, but it’s tough to find the time to play these days.
– Wish i had more time to read. I’ve got a stack of books in physical form and on the Kindle that I haven’t gotten to yet.
– Wish I had more time for practicing my spanish as well. I took it from grade school all the way through college, and can bungle my way through a conversation, but I wish I was better at it. It came in handy when we were in spain a couple of years ago – I was the only one who knew any spanish and I felt like I was fluent in being able to communicate with the taxi drivers, shop attendants and so on. Wish I was better at it though.
The list goes on and on!
@moneymatters Quite the list! Thanks for sharing, Peter
I would make more time for my blogging and for working on my project vehicle. I have a lot of passion for working on cars, but with the expenses and the baby, I just don’t have the time or money right now. I don’t feel I can even keep up with everything I do now.
There is so much I wish I had more time for and one thing is travelling. I miss the weeks upon weeks of vacation I had in the UK. We don’t get that luxury here in Canada although I’m getting there and can’t wait.
I’ve done a coupe of sponsored giveaways on Money Bulldog and they are quite time consuming. If you want to make a success of them you feel quite pressured to constantly promote them. I’d also love to learn a second language. I was learning Mandarin for a while and it was going well but then life took over, maybe one day I’ll have some free time again!
If we had extra time I think we would travel more. I love spending a day in the mountains, a weekend in Vegas or 2 weeks on a nice cruise. Right now we are working hard to make more money and if we take a day off it is a day off without pay. So for the time being we put off traveling, but we will do more again one day soon.
I have lots of time so I guess anything I don’t pursue is just for being lazy. I’d like to take up running though, it looks like a cool sport and you don’t need much to get started
You and me both! It’s hard to “make time” for things, but I’ve realize sometimes what you have to do is cut things out altogether that are wasting your time.
It’s hard to prioritize the things that you want to do when there are just so many options out there. This is one reason I’d like to become financially independent. Even if I could cut the hours I work in half, it would give me some extra time to pursue things that could help make my life much more fulfilling.
I’ve often thought “why were we only given a 24 hr. day? If I had 36 hrs. I would have time to do what I like.” I’ve come to the conclusion that if we had been given more time each day, we would likely fill it up with the busyness of life and still be asking the question you posed at the end of your post! :)
My own list is too long! Sometimes when I have a half day or a day off, I’ll use it to catch up on things such as blogging/writing. Like right now! Ha ha.
One particular I would love to pursue if I had the extra time would be a side cupcake business. I just recently made some cupcakes for my sister’s staff party and one person commented that they look like they could be for a bridal shower. That gives me the motivation to work more on my baking and decorating skills.
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I like the idea of writing out exactly what I would do if I had more time. I end up thinking about it a lot but I never seem to write out exactly what I would do if I had more time. Maybe I’ll do that tonight. I think it would make me more efficient when I actually do have free time. I think reading is one I wish I could prioritize more.
Reading is high on my list too, actually my first resolution for 2015. I