How do you find time?

שו”ת › Category: general › How do you find time?

asked 8 years ago

Hello Rabbi,
I would like to ask you a slightly different question. I am an electronics engineer, 31 years old, single. And despite being single, I don’t find the proper time to study and advance myself in a way that would allow me to feel good enough about the use of my time.
When I get home from work I’m too tired to learn anything deep. On Fridays, when I’m not working, I’m traveling, shopping, cleaning, and preparing for Shabbat. In between, I try to meet potential marriage candidates. Shabbats go by quickly and I feel discouraged about being able to gain significant knowledge until I retire, and I can’t even think about what will happen when I’m married, with children.
In the past, I thought about pursuing graduate degrees and hoping that I could land a teaching position at a high school or university, a position that would leave me more time to engage in the spiritual world.
For illustration purposes, your book Two Carts and a Hot Air Balloon took me about seven months to finish.
You inspire me to continue to advance myself and not to give up, with several academic degrees in your pockets alongside broad and in-depth study in the spiritual world. How do you do this? I would be happy if you could share the insights you have gained over the years on this subject.
thanks!

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מיכי Staff answered 8 years ago

I have some advice but nothing special. First, get yourself into a learning environment, a group, and/or a class, even if it’s a little at the expense of work. Don’t compromise, otherwise it’ll be hard to stick with. Second, try to create something of your own. Focus on one topic rather than page after page. Write an article on the topic when you finish studying it. Try giving lessons. All of this is mandatory and helps to learn and consolidate the topics. Try to connect your studies with topics that interest you. Such connections help you persevere in your studies and creativity. Look for where you can make a unique contribution to the world of studies. By the way, even in “external” subjects, it is worth doing everything seriously. Study various subjects in courses and systematically, reach a good level, and then try to connect them to Torah study. In my experience, the fundamental problem of the Baalbatim is not precisely in studying Torah, but in that they do not seriously do anything that is not part of their career. It might be worth starting by looking for areas in which you would like and can focus seriously and that are not related to your work. If you succeed in this, I hope it will also work in Torah study. successfully,

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אורן replied 8 years ago

I have a few more tips to add regarding efficient time management:

1. Listening to lessons from CDs or from your smartphone in the car on trips to work and other places.
2. Listening to lessons while doing chores, cleaning, and cooking at home (this way it goes more smoothly).
3. There is a framework called “Itim LeTorah” that may suit you, see this link: http://www.itimlatora.co.il/ (I go there myself).
4. Stick to a short and varied daily study routine from various sources such as a daily Rambam chapter, a daily Mishnah chapter, a daily Tanakh chapter, etc. (preferably after the morning prayer and not postponing it until the end of the day, lest you miss it).
5. Set a reminder on your phone to go to bed early, that way you will be less tired during the day and have more energy to study.
6. Use the time on Shabbat and holidays for meaningful study (possibly with family friends). You can forgo Shabbat/Thursday naps.
7. Start implementing the above without thinking about the long-term consequences, but simply start and gradually adjust the load, thinking that you are only in a trial period.
8. It is important not to overload too much at once, but to increase the load gradually, and if you feel suffocated, reduce the load gradually and not throw everything away at once.

Good luck.