How to Create 30 Extra Minutes a Day (Without Waking Up Earlier) with Lucia Knight
A Joy At Work Experiment: How to Create 30 Extra Minutes a Day (Without Waking Up Earlier)
Feel like there’s never enough time in the day? In this episode, I break down seven simple, game-changing shifts to help you find 30 extra minutes every day—without adding more to your to-do list.
If you’re constantly saying, “I don’t have enough time,” you’re not alone. But what if I told you that you don’t need more hours in the day—you just need a smarter way to use them?
Last week, I asked you to imagine what you’d do if you magically had an extra 30 minutes every day. This week, I’m showing you exactly how to create that time—without waking up earlier, working late, or sacrificing the things you love.
Your Joy at Work Experiment:
Try one (or all!) of these seven small shifts to free up at least 30 minutes a day:
1️⃣ Identify Your Megawatt Hours – Find your 3 peak energy hours and use them for your most important work.
2️⃣ Write Down 3 Needle-Moving Actions – Focus on just three high-impact tasks instead of an overwhelming to-do list.
3️⃣ Unsubscribe from Emails That Don’t Spark Joy – Stop wasting time deleting emails you never read.
4️⃣ Turn Off Phone Notifications – No more distractions from group chats, apps, or low-priority emails.
5️⃣ Use Automatic Focus Modes – Let your phone silence distractions automatically at key times.
6️⃣ Cut Meeting Durations in Half – Meetings expand to fit the time given—so schedule shorter ones.
7️⃣ Never Say Yes Immediately – Give yourself at least 60 minutes before committing to something new.
What will you do with your extra time? The choice is yours—but it all starts with making space for what truly matters.
Next Steps:
If you enjoyed this, you might also enjoy my Life Satisfaction Assessment. It's a 30-minute program where I guide you through a deep dive into 10 areas of your life to assess what's bringing you joy and what's bringing you down. I call it Derailed and it's a fabulous place to begin a joy-at-work redesign.
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Create 30 Miutes a Day - Joy At Work Experiment
[00:00:00] Introduction: How to Create More Time in Your Day
You're busy, yeah? There's never enough time to focus on your future work happiness, but if you don't focus on it, things just stay the same, don't they? In these short episodes, I want to give you some tiny ideas, some mini experiments to try out this week to either dial down a pain point for you at work or dial up your potential for joy at work.
Let's dive in.
[00:00:29] The Power of Small Time-Saving Shifts
Lucia Knight: Last week I asked you to think about what you could do if overnight you were gifted 24 and a half hours in every day instead of the normal 24. And I promised to give you some ideas to create 30 minutes extra in every day. Here are seven little ideas. And your joy at work experiment this week is to implement one of them.
Just doing one of them will give you 30 extra minutes a day this week. Do all of them and who knows how many hours you can create this week and the cumulative effect has the potential to blow your mind.
[00:01:16] Step 1: Identify Your Megawatt Hours (Peak Productivity Time)
Lucia Knight: Number one, get clear on your mega watt hours. Every day there are about three hours when you are at your absolute best. Your peak energy focus and creativity. Maybe it's early morning, like mine, before the world wakes up. Or maybe it's late at night when everything quiets down. Or something in between. Find those three hours and block them out for your most important work. The needle moving, future building, big thinking kind of work. No distractions, no busy work. Just you and your brilliance.
[00:01:59] Step 2: Focus on 3 Needle-Moving Actions
Lucia Knight: Number two, write down three needle shifting actions. So instead of an overwhelming to do list or must do list or have to do list, choose three meaningful, realistic, and achievable actions for today. Not 10, not 20, three. And here's the trick. Tackle them during your megawatt hours. You'll get more done in less time. So you'll have more time for the fun stuff.
[00:02:35] Step 3: Unsubscribe from Email Clutter
Lucia Knight: Number three, unsubscribe from newsletters you don't love, love, love. Be honest, how much time do you spend deleting email newsletters you never read? Stop the cycle right now. Take a minute to unsubscribe from the ones that don't bring you joy. So that's time back in your pocket every single day. Now this one is an investment on day one that will repay you for the rest of your life.
[00:03:11] Step 4: Turn Off Noisy Phone Notifications
Lucia Knight: Number four, turn off noisy phone notifications. PING! New email. PING! New WhatsApp notification from the neighborhood group. PING! New Strava update from Dave. Dear God. We can't finish a single thought when our phone is constantly demanding our attention. And if you're an introvert like me, it's like kryptonite to our productivity. Turn off all non essential notifications. Do you really need to know about the neighbor's missing cat at 11am in the middle of your megawatt hours? You won't even notice this one until you see how much you get done the very next day.
[00:04:01] Step 5: Use Automatic Focus Modes on Your Phone
Lucia Knight: Number five, set up automatic focus modes. This was a game changer for me and for many of my clients. Most phones now let you create custom focus modes like do not disturb, Work mode, sleep mode, that turn on automatically at whatever time of the day you set. Set them up once, and suddenly you are free from unnecessary interruptions, without even thinking about it. And if you only set up one mode, set up your mega watt mode?
[00:04:39] Step 6: Cut Meeting Durations in Half
Lucia Knight: Number six, cut meeting durations in half. Have you ever noticed how meetings magically expand to fit the time slot you've allocated? So try this. If your default meeting is one hour, change it to 30 minutes. If it's 30 minutes, change it to 15. Less time wasted equals more focus equals better meetings. Equals more time to spend in your megawatt hours. Equals more time shifting the needle on work that matters. Equals More joy at work.
[00:05:18] Step 7: Never Say Yes Immediately
Lucia Knight: Number seven, never say yes immediately. The next time someone asks you for your time pause, wait at least 60 minutes before giving an answer. This tiny delay gives you space to consider, do I really want or need to do this? Does this fit with my needle shifting work. It seems like a very tiny, tiny shift, but this tiny rule has changed my life, my business, and my happiness. I hope it does yours.
[00:05:56] Wrap-Up: What Will You Do with Your Extra Time?
Lucia Knight: And there you have it, seven small shifts that free up time, not by squeezing in more tasks, but by making space for what truly matters. So what might you do with all this extra time?
If you enjoyed this, you might also enjoy my Life Satisfaction Assessment. It's a 30 minute program where I guide you through a deep dive into 10 areas of your life to assess what's bringing you joy and what's bringing you down. I call it Derailed. It's a fabulous place to begin a joy at work redesign.
