Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of My Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: Good Morning, This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.
Speaker 1: Today's tip is about what not to track while measuring
Speaker 1: various dimensions of your life can be useful. It is
Speaker 1: good to know yourself if tracking some aspect of your
Speaker 1: life is going to make you feel guilty or trigger
Speaker 1: unhealthy behaviors, then you might be better off setting broad
Speaker 1: safeguards and then not worrying about the particulars. Long Time
Speaker 1: Before Breakfast listeners know that I have been tracking my
Speaker 1: time for a long time. It will be eight years
Speaker 1: this spring. Yes, I know how I have spent every
Speaker 1: half hour for the past eight years of my life.
Speaker 1: Some people hearing at might think that is a wee
Speaker 1: bit obsessive, but there are certainly folks who have tracked
Speaker 1: their spending pretty religiously for years. There are folks who
Speaker 1: have tracked all their workouts, and people who are trying
Speaker 1: to eat more healthfully who have tracked their food intake
Speaker 1: for a long time too. I do track my workouts,
Speaker 1: but I don't track those other categories. Sometimes people are
Speaker 1: surprised to hear that I don't track spending closely, because
Speaker 1: money and time are closely related, but I have certain
Speaker 1: obsessive frugal tendencies that I know will kick in. If
Speaker 1: I start monitoring and recording every detail of household spending,
Speaker 1: I will start feeling bad that we didn't buy the
Speaker 1: generic laundry detergent, and I will be tracking the price
Speaker 1: of eggs at each of several different grocery stores to
Speaker 1: be sure we are getting the best deal. All of
Speaker 1: this will take a lot of time. It would be
Speaker 1: better spent growing my business or hanging out with my kids.
Speaker 1: I am not saying that there isn't merit to tracking spending.
Speaker 1: If one is in crisis or trying to get out
Speaker 1: of debt, it's critical. But instead I have chosen to
Speaker 1: put broad safeguards in place. We spend lower percentages of
Speaker 1: our income on recurring expenses such as housing than we
Speaker 1: theoretically could. That frees up space to be a bit
Speaker 1: less careful with other things. We put the maximum allowable
Speaker 1: amount into our retirement accounts, and after that, as long
Speaker 1: as the money coming in is more than the money
Speaker 1: going out, then I am better off not devoting headspace
Speaker 1: to reducing my grocery bill by ten dollars a week,
Speaker 1: which I know I would totally spend time doing I
Speaker 1: have heard similar things about time tracking from various listeners.
Speaker 1: One person mentioned that she had been tracking screen time,
Speaker 1: but seeing the number just made her feel guilty. As
Speaker 1: long as she was doing well at work and enjoying
Speaker 1: her family life and spending time with friends and on
Speaker 1: various community activities, then it was probably not worth feeling
Speaker 1: guilty about. She could watch ninety minutes of TV a
Speaker 1: day or sixty minutes of TV a day, and it
Speaker 1: really didn't matter which she wasn't watching twelve hours a day.
Speaker 1: The safeguards were in place, so it was all good.
Speaker 1: I know I probably could eat a more healthy diet,
Speaker 1: but I also don't want to devote mental energy to
Speaker 1: tracking every calorie. I prefer to set broad guidelines like
Speaker 1: keeping the junk I find tempting out of the house,
Speaker 1: limiting alcohol, and eating veggies at least twice a day.
Speaker 1: As I am not looking to start a new career
Speaker 1: as a swimsuit model, that is probably fine. Tracking various
Speaker 1: things in life can be incredibly useful. I like to
Speaker 1: see where my time goes, and most importantly, I don't
Speaker 1: really judge myself harshly on it. I find it interesting,
Speaker 1: not an indictment. I heartily encourage people to try time
Speaker 1: tracking for at least a week. But past that, if
Speaker 1: you find tracking time, or calories, or spending or anything
Speaker 1: else makes you feel bad about yourself or encourages you
Speaker 1: to pace around the house for thirty minutes when you'd
Speaker 1: like to go to bed, just to get your step
Speaker 1: counter up to the right number, well maybe it is
Speaker 1: worth rethinking this. You don't have to track everything, only
Speaker 1: track what serves you, not what doesn't. In the meantime,
Speaker 1: this is law. Uh. Thanks for listening, and here's to
Speaker 1: making the most of our time. Hey everybody, I'd love
Speaker 1: to hear from you. You can send me your tips,
Speaker 1: your questions, or anything else. Just connect with me on Twitter,
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Speaker 1: the number four then Breakfast p o D. You can
Speaker 1: also shoot me an email at Before Breakfast Podcasts at
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Speaker 1: out with all the letters. Thanks so much, I look
Speaker 1: forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is a production
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