Three ways to make the best of your hours, days and weeks without going back in time.

If you’ve ever wished you had a silver DeLorean – replete with flux capacitor, a plutonium-powered nuclear reactor and a natty number plate that reads “OUTATIME” – you’re not the only one. Whether you went to the gym ready to smash your PBs only to wind up in the sauna, or spent the whole evening scrolling through Netflix in an effort to decide what to watch instead of, well, watching it, we’ve all wanted to accelerate to 88 and retrieve that precious, lost time that could have been spent more wisely.

According to Mr James Wallman, author of new book Time And How To Spend It, knowing how to concentrate on the fulfilling things in life has become nigh-on impossible, mostly thanks to our always-on, always-there devices, and a thoroughly baked-in culture that prioritises work over leisure. “Frighteningly, almost all of us – 96 per cent, in fact – admit to living much of our lives on ‘autopilot’, doing things without even thinking whether they’ll be good or bad for us,” he writes. And if we all continue behaving like drones for the entirety of our lives? Well, that’s like winning the lottery and only taking some of the winnings.

The book promises to help you view time, and the time you have, in a new light. Stop sinking it on those empty experiences with this advice from Mr Wallman and start filling your free hours with ones that enrich, instead.

Do you sometimes feel like you’re playing the supporting role in your own story? Mr Wallman’s suggestion is to stop this, familiarise yourself with Mr Joseph Campbell’s “hero’s journey”, and apply its principles when choosing which experiences to partake in. Whether it’s Heracles or T’Challa, according to Mr Campbell, heroes in stories must answer a call to adventure, embark on a road of trials, face a supreme ordeal and win the ultimate reward before returning home. By using the hero’s journey as a metaphor for your life, you can take control, open yourself up to more opportunities, value the times when things don't go your way, and understand that each experience you choose is a key part of your own hero’s journey. Plus, as Mr Wallman points out, you’ll have better stories to tell in the pub.

Loneliness is a killer. Mr Wallman gives the example of a meta-analysis that gathers the work of 70 studies, following nearly 3.5 million people around the world over a period of seven years. It’s conclusive evidence that the “three amigos of isolation” – social isolation, loneliness and living alone – increase your chance of death, by 26 per cent, 29 per cent and 32 per cent respectively. Mr Wallman’s recommendation is to do the things you love – and the things you don’t love so much – that bring you closer to others. Play sports, start a book club, join a cookery class. These things build not only meaningful relationships, but a sense of belonging, too.

You’ve probably heard of the psychological state of “flow”. Pointing to the findings of Mr Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, a professor of psychology at the University of Chicago in the 1970s, Mr Wallman writes that it’s flow that leads us “directly to optimum experiences and happiness”. Think of the jazz musician, on stage, completely absorbed in the complexities of his improvisations. For peak flow, Mr Wallman advises that you exert all of your energy and skill on an intensely difficult challenge, operating “at the edge of your ability”. Instead of emerging from the experience deflated, you’ll feel “an expanded sense of who you are”. Ultimately, it isn’t what you do, but how you do it. So, toss your phone, roll up your sleeves and give something tricky – whatever it is – 100 per cent.

**Time And How To Spend It (WH Allen) by Mr James Wallman is out 4 April **

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