The time saved by a shortcut does not have to be spent immediately.

Efficiency has a way of eating its own returns. You find a faster route through a task, and the twenty minutes it frees are absorbed within the hour by something else, so the improvement is never actually felt. The saving becomes capacity for more work rather than relief. That is why people who get better at their work often feel busier than before.

The next time something takes less time than expected, deliberately do not fill the gap. Sit down, walk outside, leave earlier. Letting a saving stay saved is the only way it turns into rest.