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 to see where the time really goes.
Speaker 1: I will be tracking my time next week, as I
Speaker 1: always do, and I invite you to track a lot.
Speaker 1: When we know where the time goes, we can celebrate
Speaker 1: what is working, and we have data that can help
Speaker 1: us make mindful choices if that is desired. Long Time
Speaker 1: Before Breakfast listeners know that I am a big fan
Speaker 1: of time tracking. I've been tracking my time on weekly
Speaker 1: spreadsheets for over seven years now. I will be celebrating
Speaker 1: eight years this April. Perhaps that sounds a little intense,
Speaker 1: but I promise it really isn't. I open a new
Speaker 1: spreadsheet every Monday morning. The spreadsheet has the days of
Speaker 1: the week across the top Monday to Sunday, and half
Speaker 1: hour blocks down the left hand side, five a m.
Speaker 1: To four thirty a m. These three hundred thirty six
Speaker 1: cells represent the one hundred sixty eight hours of a week.
Speaker 1: I usually check in three times a day or so
Speaker 1: and write down what I have done since my last
Speaker 1: check in. Each check in takes about a minute, so
Speaker 1: that is three minutes a day. This is the same
Speaker 1: amount of time I spend brushing my teeth, an activity
Speaker 1: that doesn't seem to intense to most people and doesn't
Speaker 1: inspire a whole lot of resistance from me. And just
Speaker 1: like brushing my teeth, I do think this time tracking
Speaker 1: habit has been a good addition to my life over time.
Speaker 1: If you want to spend your time better, you need
Speaker 1: to know where it is going. Because if you don't
Speaker 1: know where the time is going, now, how do you
Speaker 1: know if you're changing the right thing. Maybe something you
Speaker 1: thought was a problem really isn't. Maybe something you haven't
Speaker 1: considered as taking more time than you might have imagined.
Speaker 1: As with any business decision, you want to work from
Speaker 1: good data, and the only real way to get that
Speaker 1: data is to track your time. If you have been
Speaker 1: curious about time tracking, next week would be a great
Speaker 1: time to try it. I will be leading my annual
Speaker 1: time tracking challenge, as I almost always do, during the
Speaker 1: second week of January. Thousands of people we'll track their
Speaker 1: time together. If you would like to get daily emails
Speaker 1: and reminders from me, then visit my website Laura Vanderkam
Speaker 1: dot com to sign up. You can also follow along
Speaker 1: with my time logs, which I will be posting. But
Speaker 1: the truth is you don't need to do any of that.
Speaker 1: You can just track however you want on a spreadsheet,
Speaker 1: an app, a notebook, you can use anything that can
Speaker 1: help you see where the time is going aim to
Speaker 1: go for a week. You want to know how you
Speaker 1: spend Tuesdays and how you spend Saturdays, because they are
Speaker 1: all part of life. I can't promise the experience of
Speaker 1: tracking your time will be life changing. All I know
Speaker 1: is that it has been very helpful for me. I
Speaker 1: have figured out how much sleep I need seven point
Speaker 1: four hours per day, in case you're curious. I have
Speaker 1: figured out where the little nooks and crannies of my
Speaker 1: time are and how I can use those spots for hobbies.
Speaker 1: Time tracking helps me see that I have space for
Speaker 1: adventures even with everything else that is going on with
Speaker 1: my family, and I have the ability to conjure up memories.
Speaker 1: As I look at past time logs, I don't just
Speaker 1: vaguely remember going to a conference in Massachusetts in December.
Speaker 1: I can see that I ate lunch at Rosa Mexicana
Speaker 1: and worked in Starbucks for an hour before my hotel
Speaker 1: room was ready, and more about that whole memory reappears.
Speaker 1: It is not completely gone. It is there somewhere waiting
Speaker 1: for me to pull it out of the filing cabinet.
Speaker 1: If you also want to figure out what your life
Speaker 1: really looks like, and what you enjoy about your time
Speaker 1: and what you want to change, then I invite you
Speaker 1: to track along. Even if you only make it through
Speaker 1: a few days, you will have a slightly better sense
Speaker 1: of life's rhythms. Time keeps passing one way or another.
Speaker 1: Cracking gives it a bit more shape and form. It
Speaker 1: gives us something to work with, and that makes it
Speaker 1: less likely to slip through our fingers. In the meantime,
Speaker 1: this is Laura. Thanks for listening, and here's to making
Speaker 1: the most of our time. Hey, everybody, I'd love to
Speaker 1: hear from you. You can send me your tips, your questions,
Speaker 1: or anything else. Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook
Speaker 1: and Instagram at Before Breakfast Pod that's B the number four,
Speaker 1: then Breakfast p o D. You can also shoot me
Speaker 1: an email at Before Breakfast Podcast at i heeart media
Speaker 1: dot com that Before Breakfast is spelled out with all
Speaker 1: the letters. Thanks so much. I look forward to staying
Speaker 1: in Touch Before Breakfast is a production of I heart Radio.
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Speaker 1: your favorite shows. Yeah.