15 Ways To BUY BACK Your TIME

Maybe it's because we got older, definitely because we got busier, but there's this one thing we absolutely hate: wasting precious time. We straight up feel robbed of something that's impossible to get back, so we are extremely protective with our time and energy. Anytime we have the option to buy back time, well, we take it without a second thought. Here are 15 ways we buy back our time. Welcome to Alux.

First up: don't stand in line. Standing in line feels like a relic of the past. We simply refuse to believe this is the only way to get some things done. Pretty much everything has a priority pass or a way to skip that line. It goes all the way from the airport security line to bureaucratic paperwork. There are a lot of businesses that sell running around, gathering stuff services, and we use all of them every time we need something.

There really is no reason to spend all kinds of time running errands. It's true that early on, you have more time than money, so you have to do everything yourself. But if that's still the case a couple of years in, you're just not that efficient. Even buying your own groceries is not really worth it if it eats away at time spent with your family.

Have you ever calculated how much an hour of your time is worth? Now, is that amount of money worth standing in line? In our opinion, if you personally choose to stand in line when there are alternatives, you simply don't value your time as much as you arguably should.

Pay everything in advance. Managing monthly expenses is a boring chore. Do an audit for your every month and see what things you know you have to pay: bills, subscriptions—anything that requires you to log in somewhere to click a couple of buttons. Do it in advance, in bulk, so you don't have to do it every month. On top of that, paying yearly is always way cheaper.

If you have a yearly gym membership already paid up, it's easier to get back into it if you take a break because it's already paid for. There's no friction there. You can't really say, "Well, I would, but that would mean I have to pay for another month again." Yearly plans for things you need always, always are worth it. It takes a couple of hours to get everything set up, and you won't need to think about it for an entire year.

It's a more proactive approach in financial management—one that doesn't eat up hours of your time every single month. Buy once at a larger quantity. Going to the farmer's market and picking every tomato yourself is a lovely way to cook dinner, maybe once a month. The rest of the time, we buy everything that gets consumed in bulk.

Simplifying your shopping routine is a game changer. Practically speaking, your goal should be to not ever need to leave your house for months because everything you need is already there. It can become incredibly tiresome to always monitor your inventory, and it's just much easier to have everything at an arm’s reach and beyond. Aside from being practical, buying in bulk also fosters a sense of self-sufficiency. Knowing you're always well prepared for any situation gives you peace of mind.

Pay for cleaning services. Let's be real, okay? A cleaner will do a better and faster job than you could ever do. In our experience, cleaning services are highly underrated. Contrary to popular belief, hiring a cleaner isn't a luxury for the ultra-wealthy; it's a practical investment in reclaiming your time and sanity. Instead of dreading cleaning day, you look forward to returning to a pristine home without lifting a finger.

It's honestly a newfound sense of freedom. It also is an investment in your own well-being. A clear and organized space lifts your mental and emotional health. Nobody wants to make a path between clothes thrown on the floor and dirty plates. If you're in a position where getting a cleaner is a viable option, look, okay? Do yourself a favor and get one.

Coaches and mentors. In our journey to optimize our time, we found immense value in seeking guidance from experienced mentors and coaches. It's the closest thing to a real-life shortcut. They speed track your progress and multiply your results; they get rid of years of trial and error. A good mentor can save you millions of dollars and years of your life.

We built you a platform that offers it all. If you're serious about leveling up your life step by step, start your personal transformation by going to alux.com/app. And we're not just selling you an app, no, no, okay? You're getting clear thinking, 15 minutes of predictable value delivered daily—a value bank of knowledge built for you by yourself in the journal. You're getting "aha" moments on-demand shortcuts to life from international experts that we pay on your behalf, and the feeling that you are not alone in all of this.

We just happen to ship all of that to you through an app. The proof is in the hundreds of thousands of people who use it, and their life is measurably better because of it. Alux.com/slapp.

Don't use energy in areas with low expertise. That's what accountants, loyal doctors, and the like are for. If you end up wasting time doing something you are not good at, you're in the wrong business. So see where your limits are and supplement with other people's expertise. You are not as smart as you think you are.

There's a reason people need to spend years mastering a skill—you won't do it over a weekend because you are extra ambitious. Don't fool yourself into thinking that, okay, the only thing you'll get is a headache and the regret that you didn't hire someone in the first place. If there's one thing that consumes a huge amount of your time, it's thinking you can do stuff you are not qualified to do faster than someone who is.

Personal chef and trainer. Let's face it, okay? No amount of YouTube videos can fully replace a proper trainer. Their entire job is to streamline the whole process and get you as fit as you can be in the fastest and healthiest way possible. When Hollywood actors need to get into shape fast, they get a trainer—not a fitness course.

Not to throw any shade at fitness courses or anything, but you get the point. This works on the same logic as the mentor; they've seen what it takes. They know how to do it; they know what you'll do wrong; they know how to keep you in the correct lane. The personal chef is self-explanatory, but on that note, services that deliver high-quality food ready to cook are also included.

If the personal chef is outside of your range, it gets really annoying to always wonder what to have for dinner, and to be honest, we're just not the kind of people who can eat the same thing every single day. Move closer to work or bring work closer to you. We don't commute. Never. We spend around 5 minutes getting to the office, and that's a slow walk.

Some people might not agree with us on this one, but we see it like this: if you have an extra $200 to $300 a month to spend, one of the best ways to spend it is to move closer to your points of interest. Think about it like this: how much is an hour of your time worth? And come on, have a little respect for yourself here, okay? For the sake of this argument, let's say an hour is worth $300.

Two hours of commuting? That's $600 out the window daily. That's almost 20 grand a month lost in the perceived value of your time. Are you okay with that? Because we're not. Outsource the repetitive and low-value tasks. Just because you can do it yourself doesn't mean you have to. Mundane activities steal from your productive and creative energy.

As long as you keep yourself stuck in this, you'll never truly break free. Most people think, "Okay, but it only takes me like 30 minutes to get this done." Well, realistically speaking, it's not like you're going to change the world if you had an extra 30 minutes a day.

But you see, this isn't about time; it's about brain power. Because you've got a certain amount of bandwidth available to you each day. Every time something requires you to make a decision, that bandwidth gets shorter. You won't even be able to see the big picture, let alone make decisions for it if all you do is mundane stuff.

And yes, okay, we know admin stuff does need to get done, because that's just how things work. Someone needs to answer those emails; someone needs to make those calls. But that someone doesn't need to be you. If you have better things to do, make yourself unavailable. People usually don't want to bother you, but they will if you let them. An open door is an open invitation—an invitation for someone to bother you with useless or the hottest memes.

You need to actively make yourself unavailable when you need to focus. Some people won't get it, okay? They'll think you're upset with them or you're being cold and unapproachable, and that's because, like I said, they don't get it. This is your time to focus, and you need to do just that. Focus. Unassigned time will get interrupted just like your mom made you clean up your room with the sight of you looking like you're doing nothing.

People will start poking at your time when they see you're doing nothing, even if you're using that time to recharge your creative energy. If your calendar is free, someone will put a slot on it just because. So schedule your recharge time in the same manner you do with other work time. Yes, you're good enough for this; don't worry, okay?

Block your attention interruptions. Feel like you have to start a movie over every 30 minutes? By the time you get back into it, you're interrupted again. This is something you have total control over, and it is your duty to do so. If something needs your attention, block any kind of diversion. If you're in the position to get a place away from everything that's attention-hungry, even better. If you work from home, make a working space; close those tabs, put the phone on silent, get an app that does this for you.

If you need to, noise-canceling headphones also work great. As a matter of fact, we usually wear ours when we have to write something, because it literally quiets things down. Overlap creative energy with task importance. At this point, we feel like this is almost a cheat code. It's really hard to work on something that either has a lot of value or a lot of return when you're scraping the bottom of the energy barrel.

Different people have different energy levels throughout the day, but the majority of you have it in the morning. We're the same; for us, the day is a 1 until 100 p.m. Anything after that is a bonus. We were always aware of this, but the idea got more fleshed out once we were introduced to the idea of deep work by Cal Newport.

Essentially, there's a period in the day, usually in the morning, where your brain is at full power. That's when you need to take advantage of this and do all of the important stuff. Bundle up back-to-back meetings. We found that short back-to-back meetings are the best way to talk to people but also not feel like you spent the entire day doing nothing of value.

If this is a meeting day, then it's a meeting day. If something needs to be talked over, now is the time. Bundling similar activities together saves a lot of time because you don't have to get into different moods. If you need to be creative in the morning, analytical at noon, and decisive in the evening, you're just going to move really slowly.

We are not designed to switch not only gears but entire thinking systems that quickly. And finally, abuse momentum. Maybe this is just for us, but we found that three fully packed days always feel quicker and more effective than five balanced ones. That's because momentum carries you from one thing to another, and everything is still fresh. The more time you have to do something, well, the longer it's going to take you.

And of course, this wouldn't be an Alux video without a bonus, so here it is: from our experience, the biggest way you can buy back your time is to place an imaginary outlandish price on it. This is something we learned from Naval Ravikant. Imagine for a moment your work time is valued at $10,000 an hour. If that were the case, what things would you stop doing instantly?

This should give you an idea of what really eats away at your time. We'll see you back here next time, Aluxer. Until then, take care.