Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning.
Speaker 1: This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's
Speaker 1: tip is to identify the points in your days when
Speaker 1: time is leaking out. When you go in search of
Speaker 1: lost time, you might be able to figure out ways
Speaker 1: to reclaim that time for something that is important to you.
Speaker 1: I hear from a lot of people that they just
Speaker 1: don't know where all their time goes. They are incredibly
Speaker 1: busy from morning to night, but they are not quite
Speaker 1: sure what it is they are doing all day. Even
Speaker 1: people who have a good idea of how they spend
Speaker 1: let's say their work hours may lose track of shorter
Speaker 1: stretches here and there. In my recent evening Hours challenge,
Speaker 1: I had people set intentions for the space of time
Speaker 1: between the end of the workday and bedtime. For many people,
Speaker 1: actually using this time for something fun was revelatory. As
Speaker 1: one person wrote, she realized that evening time didn't have
Speaker 1: to be lost hours, It was time that was there
Speaker 1: for her to use and enjoy. Her phrase lost hours
Speaker 1: has stuck with me because I think it is such
Speaker 1: a common experience. Minutes and hours pass with no memories
Speaker 1: or accomplishments to show for them. So how do we
Speaker 1: find that lost time and get it back for something important?
Speaker 1: Whether that's high quality time with family or friends, professional work, hobbies,
Speaker 1: or simply rest. Longtime listeners won't be surprised to hear
Speaker 1: that I think one of the best ways to find
Speaker 1: lost time is to actually keep track of your time.
Speaker 1: I think everyone should try keeping a time log for
Speaker 1: a week, recording activities and half hour increments. The timelog
Speaker 1: will let you see where your time is going. Then
Speaker 1: you can identify any blocks of time going to nebulous
Speaker 1: activities like tidying or email, or you might be able
Speaker 1: to reclaim the lost time. You can also recalibrate if
Speaker 1: you realize that how you spend your time isn't aligned
Speaker 1: with your priorities. If you'd like to get a time log,
Speaker 1: you can go to my website, Laura Vandercam dot com
Speaker 1: and on the menu bar click start. Here you'll find
Speaker 1: a timelog template and other resources. I will also be
Speaker 1: running a time tracking challenge in January, so stay tuned
Speaker 1: and sign up if you would like to track your
Speaker 1: time alongside other people. If you are not quite sure
Speaker 1: about tracking, another option is to simply train yourself to
Speaker 1: be more aware. For instance, you can set a gentle
Speaker 1: chime to go off on your phone every hour. Then
Speaker 1: you can reflect on how you've spent the past hour.
Speaker 1: If you are not sure, that suggests that maybe there
Speaker 1: is some lost time to be found. You can also
Speaker 1: learn more about how you spend your time by keeping
Speaker 1: a journal. At the end of each day, reflect on
Speaker 1: what you did and what mattered during the day. If
Speaker 1: you find times of day or circumstances when you are
Speaker 1: consistently losing time, it might help to start setting more intentions.
Speaker 1: For instance, if you realize that you don't accomplish much
Speaker 1: meaningful during the first few hours of your work day
Speaker 1: because you keep getting sucked into email exchanges, maybe you
Speaker 1: designate the first thirty minutes for processing email, and then
Speaker 1: you take the next ninety minutes to work on a
Speaker 1: specific project that you have identified in advance. Or maybe
Speaker 1: you realize that the time between getting your kids out
Speaker 1: the door for school and leaving for work yourself is
Speaker 1: spent frantically one d around the house tidying who needs that?
Speaker 1: Why not leave right after your kids do and devote
Speaker 1: the extra time to hanging out by the coffee maker
Speaker 1: in the break room and building relationships with your colleagues.
Speaker 1: Or you could go straight to your desk and get
Speaker 1: an extra twenty minutes every day for a speculative project.
Speaker 1: Or maybe you spend all the time you care to
Speaker 1: at work already. In that case, skip the puttering around
Speaker 1: at home and instead sit down with your coffee and
Speaker 1: spend twenty minutes reading a novel. When you find lost time,
Speaker 1: you can redeploy it however you want. If you go
Speaker 1: in search of lost time, I would love to hear
Speaker 1: how it goes. You can reach me at Laura at
Speaker 1: Laura vandercam dot com. In the meantime, this is Laura.
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening, and here's to making the most of
Speaker 1: our time. Thanks for listening to Before Breakfast. If you've
Speaker 1: got questions, ideas, or feedback, you can reach me at
Speaker 1: Laura at Laura vandercam dot com. Before Breakfast is a
Speaker 1: production of iHeartMedia. For more podcasts from iHeartMedia, please visit
Speaker 1: the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to
Speaker 1: your favorite shows.