1. Prioritize the most important leisurely things in your life. 

Running kids to soccer practice, taking dogs for a walk, and taking on extra projects at work aren't the activities of an idler. Cloud-watching? Meditating? Drinking tea? Now we're talking. Identify the things that you enjoy doing the most, regardless of whether or not culture views them as "productive."

2. Stop volunteering for extra work. 

Helping your friend move, staying late at the office, taking time out to help the neighbor paint the house? Saintly activities, no doubt, but this kind of stuff seriously cuts into idle time that you may desperately need. Do what you need to do, and continue being reliable for necessary chores, activities, and responsibilities, but stop volunteering for extra stuff.

3. Throw out your schedule. 

For some people, a tightly-organized schedule is an essential part of productivity and feeling a sense of accomplishment in the day. For others, it's like a lead weight that hangs around your neck. Who says you have to eat lunch promptly at 12:15, and that it must take exactly 30 minutes, and that you must be back to work by 12:45? Eat when you're hungry. Toss your schedule in the garbage.

4. Lose your fear of missing out. 

Cellphones, social media, and high-speed internet have a way of seriously cutting into idle time. Try to pull back from social media a little bit, and learn to unplug. The "fear of missing out," is an increasingly serious phenomenon.^[2] When once you could sit with your thoughts and idle on your way to work, now you have the whole world at your fingertips, from the Kardashians to the Klingons, right on your phone. Your high school friend's marriage pictures. Fifty work e-mails. Someone you met one time in Florida's most recent relationship humble brag. Are these really important parts of your day, right at this moment? Make yourself less available and idle more.

5. Be ambitious for happiness and leisure. 

Ambition gets in the way. The desire for lots of money, a "successful" career, and even things like fame and recognition do a lot to keep us unhappy, disappointed, and turn us into mindless workaholics. Stop feeding your ego and start feeding your idle. Make happiness and leisure your biggest goal and let the other things drift away.