Nothing is so dear and precious as time.

Time is the one holding that cannot be replaced, increased or recovered, and it is the one we part with most casually. Money lost can be earned again and a lost afternoon cannot, yet most people guard the first and spend the second without a thought. Part of the reason is that time goes in small denominations. Nobody hands over a year; they hand over an evening, and then another one.

Look at where your evenings actually went last week, not where you meant them to go. Then take one recurring commitment that you would not choose again and end it, which is the only way the hours come back.