Blast O' Joy: How to Make Time for Your Soul

This is excerpted from my 2000 book, How Much Joy Can You Stand? (Ballantine) which I'm about to re-release on the Net as a free ebook. (Watch for details here.)

Unplug your television. Even better, completely remove it.
Cancel your subscriptions. Get rid of anything you don't read.
Make regular 'soul' time every day. If you're a morning person, get up one hour earlier and dig into your projects. If you're a night person, stay up one hour later.
Say no to your boss. Leave at 5:00 or 5:30. Chances are, you'll find you're more valuable than you thought you were. Also, you'llp robably find you work with increased efficiency. Offer to come in one hour earlier, if need be, to leave time for your evening classes, projects, events.
Don't waste your lunch hour eating. Bring lunch to work, eat it briefly at your desk, and then get out there and do what really matters to you.
Stop agreeing to do things you don't truly want to do. This includes volunteering, meeting friends and family, and serving on committees.
Redesign your work schedule. Create one day or several afternoons a week to concentrate on the things you really want to do in life. Explore flex-time alternatives in your workplace. Consider telecommuting, working from a home office, or going free-lance with your company. If giving up corporate benefits seems impossible, get in touch with self-employed advocacy groups like Support Services Alliance, Inc., to find out about their various insurance plans for members.
Put the kids to bed earlier. Establish 'grown up' time, a time zone when all children are in bed (even if they're only looking at books or listening to tapes before going to sleep) and the adults get to have a little room to breath.