See where the time really goes

Make wise time choices in the new year

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of my Heart Radio.
Good Morning. This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.
Today's tip is to see where the time really goes.
I will be tracking my time next week, as I

(00:25):
always do, and I invite you to track a lot.
When we know where the time goes, we can celebrate
what is working, and we have data that can help
us make mindful choices if that is desired. Long Time
Before Breakfast listeners know that I am a big fan

(00:45):
of time tracking. I've been tracking my time on weekly
spreadsheets for over seven years now. I will be celebrating
eight years this April. Perhaps that sounds a little intense,
but I promise it really isn't. I open a new
spreadsheet every Monday morning. The spreadsheet has the days of

(01:08):
the week across the top Monday to Sunday, and half
hour blocks down the left hand side, five a m.
To four thirty a m. These three hundred thirty six
cells represent the one hundred sixty eight hours of a week.
I usually check in three times a day or so

(01:29):
and write down what I have done since my last
check in. Each check in takes about a minute, so
that is three minutes a day. This is the same
amount of time I spend brushing my teeth, an activity
that doesn't seem to intense to most people and doesn't
inspire a whole lot of resistance from me. And just

(01:50):
like brushing my teeth, I do think this time tracking
habit has been a good addition to my life over time.
If you want to spend your time better, you need
to know where it is going. Because if you don't
know where the time is going, now, how do you
know if you're changing the right thing. Maybe something you

(02:11):
thought was a problem really isn't. Maybe something you haven't
considered as taking more time than you might have imagined.
As with any business decision, you want to work from
good data, and the only real way to get that
data is to track your time. If you have been
curious about time tracking, next week would be a great

(02:33):
time to try it. I will be leading my annual
time tracking challenge, as I almost always do, during the
second week of January. Thousands of people we'll track their
time together. If you would like to get daily emails
and reminders from me, then visit my website Laura Vanderkam
dot com to sign up. You can also follow along

(02:56):
with my time logs, which I will be posting. But
the truth is you don't need to do any of that.
You can just track however you want on a spreadsheet,
an app, a notebook, you can use anything that can
help you see where the time is going aim to
go for a week. You want to know how you

(03:18):
spend Tuesdays and how you spend Saturdays, because they are
all part of life. I can't promise the experience of
tracking your time will be life changing. All I know
is that it has been very helpful for me. I
have figured out how much sleep I need seven point

(03:38):
four hours per day, in case you're curious. I have
figured out where the little nooks and crannies of my
time are and how I can use those spots for hobbies.
Time tracking helps me see that I have space for
adventures even with everything else that is going on with
my family, and I have the ability to conjure up memories.

(04:02):
As I look at past time logs, I don't just
vaguely remember going to a conference in Massachusetts in December.
I can see that I ate lunch at Rosa Mexicana
and worked in Starbucks for an hour before my hotel
room was ready, and more about that whole memory reappears.

(04:24):
It is not completely gone. It is there somewhere waiting
for me to pull it out of the filing cabinet.
If you also want to figure out what your life
really looks like, and what you enjoy about your time
and what you want to change, then I invite you

(04:46):
to track along. Even if you only make it through
a few days, you will have a slightly better sense
of life's rhythms. Time keeps passing one way or another.
Cracking gives it a bit more shape and form. It
gives us something to work with, and that makes it

(05:07):
less likely to slip through our fingers. In the meantime,
this is Laura. Thanks for listening, and here's to making
the most of our time. Hey, everybody, I'd love to

(05:29):
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

(05:49):
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 a production of I heart Radio.
For more podcasts from I heart Radio, visit the i
heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to

(06:10):
your favorite shows. Yeah.