How much leisure time do you have each day? Time when you aren't working, doing chores or sleeping. Just free time. And how do you spend it? Do you even know?

The amount of leisure time we have every day is increasing. But, we don't know how to spend it to make us happier. By being conscious about how we spend this chunk of our time, and who we spend it with, we can bring more joy, meaning and connection into our lives.

Let me explain.

We work a lot less than we used to. To some of us, it may not feel like it, but it's true. We also spend less time commuting and less time completing household chores. Pretty much everything is getting easier and taking less time - we can get our groceries delivered to our house, see the doctor from home, do a quick workout in our living room… the list goes on.

This means that the amount of "leisure time" we have each day is increasing. But what do we do with this time? Sure, we work out, we meet up with friends or go out to eat, but even if we do all this, there is a lot of time left over that we just spend unconsciously on activities that bring us little joy. We scroll on our phones, mindlessly watch Netflix - or do both at the same time. Unfortunately, we are not good at using our leisure time.

One reason for this is that there's just not enough leisure time options out there for us. The growth in available leisure time has outpaced the growth in leisure activities. Think about it. It's 5pm on a Wednesday and you just finished work. You work from home so there's no commute. You cook dinner and clean up afterwards - it's now 6:30pm. What now? You could go out to a bar, but you don't really want to drink mid-week. Of course, there are options like going to the cinema or doing a dance class. But the reality is that most of us don't do these things in our free time.

We need to get better at spending our free time. We spend our lives working to get this time but often end up like the dog who finally caught up with the car, we don’t know what to do with it now that we have it. It's a gift given to use by centuries of human progress and we’re kinda we're wasting it. It's a large portion of our lives now and if we use it well, it can bring us meaning, connection and joy.

There's three things we can do better spend our lesiure time.

First, be deliberate in how you spend your leisure time. Think about your free time, what are the things you do that really bring you joy? Can you do more of them? Can you spend more times on things that are simply fun! Here are some things I have started doing with my leisure time that I really enjoy.

• Every Wednesday evening, I meet up with a group of guys to play a different sport for 1-2 hours. Sometimes it’s tennis, sometimes it’s spike-ball, sometimes it’s bowling (is that a sport?) or laser-tag. It happens every week and it’s such a fun way to spend an evening. I also play touch rugby twice a week - again, it’s scheduled so I know it’s going to happen. It’s super social and a great form of exercise too.

• I’ve also started playing chess. My friend and I will meet a coffee shop or one of our houses and play a few games. I always lose but find it such an enjoyable way to spend my leisure time. I’m one hundred percent focused on the game which makes it a super mindful experience. I’m learning a new skill which is always fun.

• I go to a bkaing competition every Thursday. My friends started a bake-off competition that has been an absolute blast. Each Thursday, one person hosts and has to bake something for everyone to eat. We eat the baked goods and watch an episode of The Great British Bake Off. Sound wholesome? It is!

These are just a few examples. My advice would be to consciously create these regular activities in your calendar. It’s much easier to rock up to something you know is happening every week, than to try organise something new each time.

I also want to be extremely clear on one point. I am not saying that we need to spend our leisure time on productive things. I have fallen into this trap before. I used to to try fill my leisure time with "productive" activities, i.e., developing a skill, building a side hustle etc.,. But this limits our options. If our leisure time has to be filled with something "productive" , then we can't spend time on things that are just fun. Things that bring us joy. That have no point. No ROI. They just bring us joy in the moment. We should spend more of our leisure time on pointless things like this.

Second, be deliberate in who you spend your leisure time with. Don't spend it alone. Meet friends, meet new people, do group activities. We are social creatures and we need to spend time with others to find meaning and build connection. As an introvert, I hate to admit this. But it's true. Spending time building relationships with others, who care about us, gives us a sense purpose and meaning that makes us happier. I think of this across three groups of people. The first is your “inner circle”. These are the people you are most comfortable with and have the deepest chats with. The second is your “casual friends” - these are people you know and you like spending time with them, but they aren’t your “inner circle”. They are a bigger group and a good source of entertainment. The final group is the “new people” group. Spending time on activities that allow you to meet entirely new people is extremely worthwhile. If you’re only ever spending time with your “inner circle and “casual friends”, you're limiting your potential to meet new people that you may really connect with.

Third, create more options for you leisure time. Come up with fun new activities. As a kid, this was easy. We never had to sit around thinking of fun things to do, there was always some idea or an adventure that we could dive into. This can be the same as an adult. This could be something that you just do for yourself - like starting to play a new instrument, but could also be something you create that others can spend their leisure time on too! The Great British Bake Off is a perfect example of this. There is actually a huge opportunity for people to create activities that allow us to spend our leisure time in more fulfilling, healthy ways. These new activities could also let people spend more time with other people - a good solution for the combatting the levels of isolation and loneliness in our communities.

So. What are you doing this evening? Will it bring you joy? If not, consider doing something else. Something new. Something just fun! Spending our leisure time well is a skill and if you develop it, it will bring you a lifetime of joy, connection and purpose.