Remembering becomes easier over time

How to figure out where the time really goes

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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 that remembering where the time goes becomes
easier over time, while trying to get a grip on

(00:25):
time is challenging at first, Over time, you will become
more mindful, which makes it easier to figure out where
the time really goes. When this episode is first airing
in January, I am leading a time tracking challenge where
hundreds of people are logging their time for a week.

(00:49):
We are all trying to figure out where the time
really goes so we can make wise decisions. If that
sounds good to you, then feel free to join in.
You just write down what you're doing as often as
you remember, and keep going for a week. Then you
can celebrate, reflect or change. If you have never tracked

(01:14):
time before, you might find that it's a little tough
at first. It's tough to remember to check in with
your log. It's tough to describe what you were doing
in short phrases. It might be hard to remember what
you were doing a few hours ago if you weren't
really paying attention. Sometimes these challenges make people stop tracking

(01:37):
their time. But I really hope they won't stop you.
Because here's the thing. Remembering where the time went becomes
much easier the more you do it. I have been
tracking my time for almost seven years now, yep, every
half hour for seven years. I have a busy life,

(01:59):
so there is no way I would have stuck with
this habit if it were difficult. At this point, I
usually check in three times a day and write down
what I've done since the last check in. Over the
past few months, there have been a few weekend days
in particular, that have just been so full I've been

(02:19):
nowhere near my computer. But I have found that after
almost seven years, I can in fact reconstruct a full
twenty four hours with what feels like reasonable accuracy. The
reason is that I now think about where my time
is going. I remember that, oh, yes, we did that
thing at two pm, so we were in the car

(02:41):
at one thirty, and I put the baby to bed
at eight pm, or that the pizza came out of
the oven at six thirty pm, and so forth. As
I think about my time and think about how I'd
like to spend my time, there are more conscious decisions.
I look at the clock and see at two PM
that I don't have anything I have to do until

(03:03):
and so I go read a book on the back porch,
because that is a conscious decision. It is in my
brain and I can remember it for at least a
day or so. I have found this to be the
case with other folks as well. For my next book,
Tranquility by Tuesday, I had a hundred fifty people learned

(03:25):
nine time management rules over the course of nine weeks.
I had people track their time before the study and
after the study. It turned out that people had an
easier time recollecting where their time went in the post
study survey than the pre study survey. Once they were
primed to start thinking about their time and to think

(03:47):
about how they would like to spend their time, time
was less likely to be spent mindlessly. They were making
active choices about where it should go, so they remembered
their choices. In general, I think this mindfulness is a
good thing. Perhaps there are some times we don't really

(04:08):
want to think about this too much. I mean, I
have definitely put something like beach for five hours when
I'm at the beach, rather than recount every single time
I went into the waves or built a sandcastle. But
since we only get so much time, knowing where it
goes allows us to be better stewards of it. Days

(04:30):
and weeks and years don't disappear into the abyss. A
life is lived in hours. We can use those hours
to create the lives we want. Being mindful of where
those hours go is the first step to doing just that.

(04:51):
In the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for listening, and
here's to making the most of our times. M Hey everybody,
I'd love to hear from you. You can send me
your tips, your questions, or anything else. Just connect with

(05:12):
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
is spelled out with all the letters. Thanks so much,
I look forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is

(05:40):
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.