This is a difficult and easy question at the same time. I feel that if someone considers something as important, in 99% of the case, they will devote the time for it. There is a difference between believing something is important and knowing that something is important. If you know and accept but don’t believe, it won’t lead you to action. If you understand and see that exploration can be good for you, you will do it.
One way to optimize contributions is to find something related to what you do at work. If at work you work in the data field and use pandas for example, it might be a good opportunity to look and contribute to pandas itself or polars. This is a nice approach as when contributing, there is the initial field learning phase and knowledge of the tool. If you choose something in your field of work, you will save the time to learn a new field.
This also has the double advantage of enhancing your working skills. When contributing you go to a level deeper than usage knowledge. You dive into the rationale behind decisions, problems facing the field and how they are tackled. It is also the time to get a bird-eye view of the field itself as you will be looking at players in the field to contribute to, and while contributing you’d sometime see how alternative projects tackle problems.
If you cannot find time due to work demands, then maybe look into alternative jobs or, in upcoming contracts try to find a way to include this time or, find a flexible schedule that allows you to explore. Experimentation is important for personal growth.