Sorry to disappoint, but I didn’t literally kill my Xbox One; only figuratively. Times weren’t that desperate that such desperate measures needed to be taken at this time.

I wrote how I previously found 180 extra hours this year here.

Well, I’ve been at it again! I’ve found another 300 hours or so! Preposterous you say? Nay, says I. (Sorry, I’ve been watching too much Vikings lately.) Which is a good segue way into my “extra” time discovery.

It’s really simple.

My guiltiest pleasure in life is probably playing video games. I’ve been hooked ever since I got the original Playstation years ago. I don’t even want to think about how much time I’ve “killed” playing a game whether its Gran Turismo, Runescape, FIFA, or my most recent time killer, The Witcher.

So what’s this gotta do with finding extra time? It’s hard to admit but I’ve spent a shit ton of time playing video games which drives my wife crazy. She calls them a waste of time but my reasoning is that it helps me blow off some steam or (insert another generic excuse here.)

I’m starting to think that she’s right. (Please, don’t tell her that.)

A very conservative estimate is that I used average about an hour of wasting time playing video games a day. Some days I wouldn’t play at all and some days I’d spend 2-3 hours. Ouch. So let’s say I spent an hour a day for 365 days a year….that’s 365 hours right there or over 2 full weeks. Wow…

Playing video games unfortunately isn’t the same as going cold turkey on apps on my phone. I can’t do it. Plus, I can’t get rid of my Xbox One because we use it to stream Netflix, Hulu, and others. (That’s a story for another time and day)

So if I can’t go completely cold turkey, I could probably cut back a bit right? I’ve had a job again since June 29th and I somehow haven’t played a single minute of video games. 46 days (as of writing this) and 0 minutes of video games?! Holy shit…you go Glen Coco!

Combine this with deleting my apps and I’m “gaining” almost 400 hours a year. I’ve allotted for some video game playing for the remainder of the year (FIFA ’16 comes out September 22nd) so that’s the cause of the 300 extra hours estimate.

That averages out to more than an “extra” hour a day. I can do some serious damage with an “extra” hour a day! And you can too! I’ve spent that “extra” hour mainly working on this blog and hanging out with my wife; things that are much more fulfilling than slaying some virtual dragons!

So what does this have to do with becoming self employed?

Everything.

This “extra” time is time that you can spend working on your idea…improving your idea….improving yourself….networking…anything that’s more productive than leveling up on Call of Duty. You don’t have to quit your job to start working on your idea. An hour a day is ample enough time to make a dent over time if you stick with it long enough.

Give it a try! Think about whatever your guiltiest pleasure is that you “spend” way too much time indulging in and see if you can cut it in half. If its watching a show on Netflix, try watching only one episode a night instead of two. It’s a lot easier said than done but you’ll be thanking yourself if you can pull it off.

Let me know how it goes and may the odds forever be in your favor.