Before I started scholars, I listened to a lot of your podcasts, especially the time management ones and started planning my day very specifically and it’s made a huge difference. However, just doing the first part of the April homework I can already tell I’m going to really master this skill in 4 weeks beyond what I’ve been able to do by myself for 7 months. Scholars is SO worth every penny 🙂

Anyway, I’m working on the April schedule and have some questions about free time. Is free time just time where you have absolutely nothing planned and is there a minimum of free time I should plan?

I’ve found that having a big block of free time where I’m planning on doing things I enjoy, like going on a walk, reading, etc. with enough time to do those things and more, but not planning when I’m doing each thing doesn’t really work for me. I’d rather have my whole day planned, with plenty of things that are enjoyable and not constantly productivity driven. But, is it important for my brain to have a break with completely open free time?

As a side note, it has been interesting to see the changes in how I spend my time. At the beginning, I wanted to be efficient at work so I could do what I wanted, which usually ended up being Netflix and social media. But when I began to look at my time and plan it intentionally, I realized I don’t even enjoy being on social media at all and a lot of the time didn’t even enjoy the TV show I was watching. I had spent hours and hours doing that never even realized that I didn’t actually like it!

Lastly, I just read the book The Righteous Mind by Jonathan Haidt and highly recommend it. Haidt is a social psychologist and has spent 25 years doing research on how people think about morality, and why there is such sharp division about religion and politics. A lot of the concepts are very similar to what we learn in scholars, but played out on a societal scale. A lot of the studies mentioned were about how our brains work, and it was really fascinating to read as I am working on managing my mind. Definitely check it out if you’re looking for a good book!