Keep a Good Time journal

A simple strategy can help you spend more time on work you love

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.
Good Morning. This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.
Today's tip is to use a journal to identify the
aspects of your work you find energizing and engaging and
those you don't. Once you know this, you can arrange

(00:24):
your life to do more of the work you love.
This tip, like others we've talked about before on Before Breakfast,
comes from Bill Burnett and Dave Evans book Designing Your Life.
This book shows how to use design principles to create
a life that works for you. Long time listeners know
that I am a big believer in tracking your time.

(00:45):
We learn a lot by seeing where the time really goes.
Collecting the data allows us to adjust our schedules and
routines to spend our time better. Burnett and Evans proposed
keeping something called a good Time journal to help you
do something very similar. Here's how it works. Jot down
your activities at the end of each work day, staff meeting,

(01:07):
client lunch, preparing for a presentation, and so forth. Note
how engaged you were during each activity and whether you
felt energized or drained afterwards. If you're tracking your time
on a spreadsheet as I do, you could create an
additional column for engagement level and energy level or next

(01:27):
to the activity just right h M or L to
signify if your engagement was high, moderate, or low, and
then energy can get a plus or minus, kind of
like a battery going up or down. Burnett and Evans
proposed keeping a good time journal for at least three
weeks and reviewing your journal and reflecting on what you
learn at the end of each week. When were you

(01:48):
engaged or in a state of flow, What activities left
you energize and which left you drained? What patterns do
you see? What you learned may surprise you. Burnett and
Evans describe an engineer who was bored and restless in
his job. His good time journal revealed that he actually
loved engineering, He just didn't thrive on the inner personal

(02:09):
interactions that came with it, like writing proposals for new
work or negotiating fees. When you know this about yourself,
you can figure out ways to minimize or contain the
draining work, or even how to swap it with a
colleague who loves whatever you don't. As you look at
your own good time journal, if you're having trouble identifying
patterns in your engagement and energy, Burnett and Evans suggest

(02:33):
using the A E I O U framework developed by
Dave pet Nayak. As you examine your journal, consider these factors.
The activities that's A. What were you doing? What was
your role? The environments that's e. Where were you How
did you feel in this place? Was it quiet or loud,

(02:54):
calm or stimulating? Indoors or outdoors? Consider the interactions I
Were you working with other people or objects, words, numbers,
or ideas. Was the interaction formal or informal, routine or new?
And what about the objects that's oh, what were you
working with and what tools did you use? And finally,
the users that's you were other people around? How did

(03:16):
they make the activity more or less pleasant for you?
Oftentimes the context of our work is just as important
as the actual task in influencing our engagement and energy.
I love working on the train, but only if I'm
in the Amtrak quiet car. If I'm somewhere else on
the train and somebody starts talking into their cell phone,
I pretty much want to jump off the train. Something

(03:40):
I'd find fun to write becomes tedious, and it's very hard.
To stay engaged. But because I know that well, I'm
careful where I sit. Of course, just because something is
draining to you personally doesn't mean you get out of it.
For activities that are essential but that you find draining,
Burnett and Evans advised making sure you have any of

(04:00):
energy going into them. So if big meetings leave you
feelings spent, do something engaging and energizing beforehand. Maybe that's
a one on one with a direct report. You especially
enjoy mentoring or studying the performance data from the last quarter.
We can't always eliminate the parts of our work we
don't love, but thinking about when they occur and what

(04:21):
else we're doing before or after can be helpful for
managing our energy and engagement. Burnett and Evans advice, follow
the joy. Follow what engages and excites you, what brings
you alive. A good time journal can be a great
tool for finding that joy so you can pursue more
of it. If you try keeping a good time journal,

(04:42):
I'd love to hear how it goes. You can email
me at Before Breakfast podcast at ihart media dot com.
In the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for listening, and
here's to making the most of our time. M Hey everybody,

(05:03):
I'd love to hear from you. You can send me
your tips, your questions, or anything else. Just connect with
me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at Before Breakfast pod.
That's B the number four, then Breakfast p o D.
You can also shoot me an email at Before Breakfast
podcast at i heeart media dot com that Before Breakfast

(05:25):
is spelled out with all the letters. Thanks so much,
I look forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is
a production of I heart Radio. For more podcasts from
my heart Radio, visit the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.