If you under­sched­ule you achieve time afflu­ence, the abil­ity (time) to mas­ter some­thing you are not required to, and the free­dom to expose your­self to ‘pos­i­tive ran­dom­ness’ (unex­pected oppor­tu­ni­ties). Cal New­port then goes on to sug­gest sim­ple but effec­tive advice on how to make your (new­found) free time count (I para­phrase and generalise):

Once a week do each of the following:

  • Lis­ten to an edu­ca­tional or inspir­ing talk/speech (edu­ca­tional and inspir­ing are not nec­es­sar­ily mutu­ally exclusive)
  • Relax for at least an hour or two with a book
  • Iden­tify one per­son who has done some­thing you admire and email them ask­ing a con­cise and spe­cific ques­tion about how they got started down that path.

Start a project

  • Some­thing big and ambi­tious that has no exter­nal dead­lines or pres­sure (cre­at­ing a blog, start­ing a busi­ness, etc.).
  • The idea is not to fin­ish this is one or two weeks… if you can, it’s nei­ther big nor ambitious.

Plan ‘adven­tures’

  • Any­thing you find fun: a cin­ema trip, din­ner in or out, a photo walk, a drive to some­where interesting.
  • Do it with friends