给别人时间 让自己拥有更多时间

Meetings, calls, kids, dogs, errands, exercise—and all those emails! Who doesn't feel starved for time these days? 

But a new study suggests that you can feel like you have more time—by donating some to others. The research is in the journal Psychological Science. [Cassie Mogilner et al, Giving Time Gives You Time]

There really are only 24 hours in a day—seven or eight of which are (ideally) spent sleeping. And a time commitment does take time. But researchers found that if people felt like they had done something for others, their perception was that they had gotten more done than people who killed time, spent time on themselves or got unexpected free time. And that made them feel like they had more time overall.

You don't even have to spend your whole Sunday volunteering. The helping tasks in the study took only about 5 to 15 minutes. They included things like editing a student's essay or writing a note to a sick child.

Time donators also felt like they could do more with their time, making them even more willing to give time in the future.

—Katherine Harmon