I’ve talked before about managing your time as a nerd, but I want to take a more in-depth look at a trick that helps me maximize my free time, set goals for the things I want to tackle next, and even get a better sense for which of my many hobbies I most value and want to devote more time to. While your mileage may vary with this tool, I’ve certainly found it useful enough to want to pitch it to other nerds who might find themselves having the same difficulty I do.

I call it…the Hobby Calendar!

Lackluster name aside, I’m of the opinion that it’s one of the better ideas I’ve had in a while. The concept is simple, but I’ve found it really helps me stay focused and keep from being paralyzed with indecision every time I have a moment’s free time. I find myself thinking, “I could do anything…anything at all! But what will I choose?” and then end up waffling endlessly over it and consequently wasting a sizable chunk of that precious free time, without making progress on anything whatsoever.

Last year, I decided I’d had enough, and that it was time to take charge. So I sat down, opened up a new spreadsheet, and made a list of my main hobbies in one column. In another, I listed the months of the year, and then proceeded to arrange the hobbies by month in a way that I felt made sense. Here’s what I ended up with:

As you can see, there aren’t many moving parts, and there’s nothing to regularly record (yet, anyway); it mainly serves as a reminder for what’s coming up next. Unsurprisingly, choosing what to put where was the hardest part. Some of the choices were arbitrary, but there was a method to my madness for others — for example, November is National Novel Writing Month, so naturally, that one had to be writing. And I know February is always the month that I end up feeling apathetic and really bogged down by winter, so I picked video games for that month since it’s low-key, doesn’t require much work, and allows me to hibernate.

You’ll also see that some months are doubled up — instead of breaking my hobbies down into twelve different activities, I chose to keep things more broad so that, while the calendar removes the “blank canvas” effect, I still have some freedom to decide what “crafting” or “writing” means to me on a given day. However, this is another spot where you can change things up to work for you. Maybe you work better when things are parsed out in more detail, or maybe you like the freedom that comes with broader categories — either method can be useful; it just depends your preference.

I’ve been using my calendar since June, so I won’t come full circle until May, but so far, this method has been really helpful — and even eye-opening — for me. One thing I’ve realized is that the thing I most often wish I were doing when I’m doing something else is crafting. This tells me that when push comes to shove, if I really had to narrow it down, making stuff would be my top priority. Knowing this, I can proceed with planning future months accordingly (whether that means setting aside more time for crafty activities, or keeping more variety on the list so that I’m more likely to branch out and learn new stuff).

As I more or less expected, some months have gone better than others — for example, reading month was easy, since I can pick up a book for just a few minutes and still make a little progress, which isn’t something I can do with, say, a story I’m working on or a show I want to watch. And sometimes months just end up being really full and I don’t end up with much free time at all (Artwork month just wrapped up, and, well…let’s just say there are a lot of ideas in my head that haven’t made it to paper yet).

But regardless of what I accomplish in a particular month, the sense of focus I get from the calendar means that I still get more done than I would have otherwise. And beyond getting rid of some decision fatigue, the calendar helps me put aside the guilt I’d normally have while working on something, wondering if my time would have been better spent in another way. Say in February I spend an afternoon playing Legend of Zelda, and the thought strikes me that maybe I should be getting more done on the craft languishing on my shelf instead. But when that thought comes, I can just remind myself that it’s video game month, and regardless of what else I could be doing, this is what I’ve chosen to do, and therefore, I have permission to not feel bad about it. In fact, I can enjoy it even more because of that!

So, what do you think, friends? Would you give the hobby calendar a try? What are some other tricks you’ve found helpful in your quest to do All The Things?

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If you’re like me when it comes to nerding, you probably find that your eyes are often bigger than your stomach, so to speak. There are so many wonderful nerdy things to do, but a limited time for them. When you’re not engaging in nerdy pursuits, there are friends to visit, chores to do, errands to run…and of course, a job you need in order to purchase the necessary components for nerdy activities. And, you know, other important stuff, like food.

As my life seems to constantly be getting busier despite my efforts to make it the opposite, I’ve come to realize that things are probably never going to slow down, and if I want to do anything nerdy amidst all the hullabaloo, I’m going to have get creative about it. But luckily, we nerds are good at that. Here are some of the ways I’ve found to fit nerdy fun into an overbusy schedule:

Multitasking

This is a fairly obvious one, but an important one nonetheless. Sometimes, in order to find time for nerdy activities, you have to create time where none apparently exists (case in point: I’m writing this blog post after my calligraphy class, whilst watching Critical Role. Procrastinate? Me?! Never…).

A good strategy for this is thinking about how you can fill the downtime/waiting time you inevitably have in a given week with something you want to do. For example, you could get some reading done on the bus or subway, or listen to podcasts during your lunch break. You could watch your favorite vlog while you’re getting ready for work, play a little Gameboy or PSP while waiting in line, or knit a few more rows on your Doctor Who scarf while you’re riding shotgun on the way to a friend’s place. Little pockets of dead time pop up on a daily basis, and taking advantage of them is the perfect way to fit a little nerdery into your week.

Turning friend time into nerdy time

You should spend time with your friends no matter what — so why not ask them to join in the nerdy shenanigans with you, and take part in a nerdy thing you love with people you love hanging out with? Invite friends over for a game night, get together for a themed party, or go out to see that sci-fi flick you’ve been looking forward to watching. The possibilities are endless!

If your friends are already nerdy, this sort of thing will happen naturally on a regular basis, but it’s also a great way to introduce friends to nerdy pursuits they may not have discovered yet. And if your friends are (gasp!) not very nerdy, well…they are. They just don’t know it yet. And it’s up to you to show them!

Focusing on one nerdy activity for a while

This is a strategy I’ve just started putting into practice (and need to start doing more, to be quite honest). Personally, I’m into books, shows, movies, vlogs, writing, video games, anime, manga, comics, board games, role-playing games, drawing, and crafts. For a start. And I know I’m not the only one who has more nerdy interests than they know what to do with. And, of course, since I love it all, I want to do it all (simultaneously, sometimes). But before I even begin, I get overwhelmed by the sheer possibilities, and end up doing none of them as I squander my precious free time trying to figure out where to start.

This strategy is a pretty simple one — think about the interests you’d like to pursue, pick one of them (yes, just ONE; you can do it! I believe in you!) and focus on it for a week, or a few weeks, or even a couple of months. Once you’ve spent some time beating a video game, switch to catching up on your favorite show, and then to starting a new book series. This way, you eliminate the decision paralysis problem we know so well, and get to devote good, focused time to something you really enjoy doing. And even though you’ll feel like you’re doing less, the idea behind this strategy is that you’ll accomplish a lot more than you would otherwise, because you’re intentionally choosing to engage with something instead of taking things as they come while waiting for the day when you’ll finally have enough free time (a day which, in all probability, will never come anyway).

So there you have it! These are few of the ways that I find time to at least get closer to doing the amount of nerdy stuff I want to do. What are some ways you’ve found to fit more nerdery into your life? Share with us in the comments!

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