According to statistics, the average employed adult (with no kids, of course) engaged in about 4.5 hours of leisurely activities on any given day. (That’s about an hour more than working adults living with kids under the age of six.)

Whether you have 45 minutes or four hours of free time a day, the universal truth remains the same — every adult would like to know how to maximize whatever free time they do have. Follow these five suggestions and you’ll be well on your way to feeling like you’ve made the most of whatever leisure time you have each day.

1. Limit Time Spent on Time-Wasters.
It can be tempting to spend our free time doing idle activities that don’t take up much of our brainpower, like perusing Facebook or Twitter or watching re-runs on Netflix. We all deserve some time to decompress from a hard day, though, so instead of forcing yourself to give up on these activities completely (which probably won’t work anyway), try setting a timer when you get home and allowing for only 30 minutes of these idle activities before moving on. (Note: Spending 30 minutes on social media is probably not necessary, but if you simply must re-watch that episode of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, then you’ll need that whole amount of time. If you can shoot for less, though, that would be even better.)

2. Be Strategic.
While it might seem contradictory to create a list of things to accomplish during your free time (hello, more stress!), research has shown that those who actually take the time to write down their goals tend to be much more successful at accomplishing them than those who do not. The trick here is to not create more stress for yourself by attempting to accomplish every leisure-time goal on your list. Instead, shoot for small accomplishments each day. For example, maybe your list includes 15 items that you think would be awesome to accomplish during your leisure time, and your goal is to accomplish at least three of them during any given day. This is a small, manageable number to shoot for (assuming the time it takes to accomplish these goals is relatively reasonable), and if you can actually fit in more than your goal number, you’ll feel even better about how you spent your free time.

3. Track Your Progress.
While we often find ways to track the time we spend working, very few people translate this time management trick into what activities they partake in during leisure hours. There are plenty of apps out there to help you track your progress, and believe me, ticking off an accomplishment – whether large or small – is highly enjoyable. Try Hours, Balanced or ATracker to get started.

4. Include at Least One Activity for Your Health.
While it’s perfectly okay for your Leisure Time To-Do list to include plenty of fun activities — like contacting old friends, learning a new language or taking up a musical instrument — it would also behove you to include an activity or two on there that’s good for your health. While we all know the benefits of exercise and physical activity (for weight control, to help combat certain health conditions, to improve mood, etc., etc.), it’s also important to exercise your brain every day. Try a game of Sudoku orLuminosity, or try meditating for 5 – 10 minutes, before heading into your other free-time activities. Your heart, general health and brain will all thank you.

5. Use Free Time as a Bucket List.
Besides the common ways that people use free time — to finish up household tasks, catch up on correspondence, work out, walk the pets, etc. — why not use your free time as a way to work through that bucket list of yours, as well? If you’ve always wanted to learn a new language, take a pottery class, pick up that long-lost instrument again or learn to knit, siphoning off an hour or so of your free time to try these things out (and writing them down on your list!) is a great way to look forward to and make the most of your free time each and every day.

Whatever you decide to do with your down time, keep in mind that the key to going to bed happy at night is to know you’ve spent time doing things you love, keeping up with what you need to do, and also challenging yourself, even if ever-so-slightly. Follow the above suggestions during your free time and you’ll be well on your way to doing this every day.