Get a grip on your precious time

Do you ever wonder where the time goes? This can be awesome if you’re doing something you love and are so absorbed that you lose track of time.
But sometimes, you’re running around feeling
super busy, and you have no idea what happened to your day. Weeks blaze by in a blink of an eye and you feel like there just isn’t enough time to get everything done.

It’s time for a time reality check. In Laura Vanderkam’s book, 168 Hours: You Have More Time Than You Think, she shares data showing how we think we spend our time is often inaccurate compared to how we actually spend our time. Often, we overestimate how much we work, do chores and other less desirable tasks, while we underestimate how our leisure time and sleep.

 
The Benefits
The Time Reality Check is a tool to help you evaluate how you are currently spending your time and determine how you’d like to be better spending your time in the future. Benefits include:

• Seeing the proof in the pudding. You’ll see there is quite a bit of time in a week – 168 hours to be exact.
• Busting through lies you tell yourself. For example, “I work all the time,” or “I don’t have time for exercise.”
• Empowering you to be proactive in how you’d like to change how you spend your time.

 
Time Reality Check
Track your time for a three to seven days to get a reality check on how you are actually spending your time. Use an app (I personally like Hours), track it on a spreadsheet, or simply write it down on paper. Like a food journal, the simple act of tracking your time will likely change how you think about and spend your time. You might notice it takes longer than you’d like to get ready in the morning or that you’d like to spend less time on the screens and more time on the yoga mat.

 
I recommend 15 minute increments if you are tracking it manually and pre-selecting your categories such as work email, client work, commuting, running personal errands, house chores, cooking, exercise, screen time, sleep, family fun time, and so on. Be sure to include categories that are important to you, such as areas of improvement or hobbies. Helpful hint: keep it as simple as possible to make it manageable.

After reviewing your results from the time reality check, ask yourself:

• What areas where I’d like to be spending more time?
• What areas would I like to spend less time?
• What misconceptions do I need to stop telling myself about how much time I have or don’t have?

Decision Time
It’s now time to make decisions on changes you’d like to make. Would you like to spend more time working? Less time running errands or watching tv? More quiet time with your partner? Commit and take action right now to make it happen.