1 00:00:03,000 --> 00:00:09,360 Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning, 2 00:00:10,560 --> 00:00:15,960 Speaker 1: This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's 3 00:00:16,000 --> 00:00:20,120 Speaker 1: tip is about how to stop feeling guilty about how 4 00:00:20,160 --> 00:00:24,079 Speaker 1: you spend your time. For the responsible people listening to 5 00:00:24,160 --> 00:00:28,520 Speaker 1: this podcast, my guess is that tracking your time will 6 00:00:28,560 --> 00:00:30,680 Speaker 1: reveal that you are spending quite a bit of time 7 00:00:31,080 --> 00:00:35,720 Speaker 1: with your family, You are probably sleeping a reasonable amount, 8 00:00:35,920 --> 00:00:40,879 Speaker 1: and even making space for physical activity. Whatever you are 9 00:00:40,960 --> 00:00:46,360 Speaker 1: telling yourself that you never do is probably happening on 10 00:00:46,400 --> 00:00:49,680 Speaker 1: some occasion, so you can let go of the guilt 11 00:00:50,360 --> 00:00:54,880 Speaker 1: and just get on with your life. Today's tip, like 12 00:00:54,960 --> 00:00:57,520 Speaker 1: others this week, comes from my book I Know How 13 00:00:57,560 --> 00:01:01,640 Speaker 1: She Does It, which came out ten years ago. For 14 00:01:01,720 --> 00:01:05,000 Speaker 1: the book, I collected time diary data from one thousand 15 00:01:05,000 --> 00:01:06,920 Speaker 1: and one days in the lives of women with big 16 00:01:07,040 --> 00:01:11,119 Speaker 1: jobs and families. I found that in the one hundred 17 00:01:11,120 --> 00:01:13,319 Speaker 1: and sixty eight hours that make up a week, it 18 00:01:13,400 --> 00:01:19,080 Speaker 1: is possible to work, spend time with family, sleep, exercise, read, 19 00:01:19,319 --> 00:01:23,000 Speaker 1: or do anything you truly care about. Lots of people 20 00:01:23,080 --> 00:01:27,680 Speaker 1: are successfully having it all. For the book, I wanted 21 00:01:27,720 --> 00:01:30,479 Speaker 1: to study how people spent their time, so I had 22 00:01:30,480 --> 00:01:34,320 Speaker 1: them track their time for a week. This was straightforward enough, 23 00:01:34,880 --> 00:01:39,759 Speaker 1: but collecting the data had a surprising side effect. Most 24 00:01:39,760 --> 00:01:43,560 Speaker 1: people don't actually know how they spend their time. I 25 00:01:43,560 --> 00:01:47,360 Speaker 1: mean they have ideas. Maybe everyone at your workplace talks 26 00:01:47,400 --> 00:01:50,720 Speaker 1: about their sixty hour work weeks, or maybe people claim 27 00:01:50,760 --> 00:01:54,120 Speaker 1: they're lucky to get six hours of sleep. Maybe you 28 00:01:54,160 --> 00:01:57,040 Speaker 1: have heard people lament that they never see their families. 29 00:01:58,320 --> 00:02:01,000 Speaker 1: People can walk around with these stories, but the data 30 00:02:01,120 --> 00:02:04,680 Speaker 1: often show otherwise. Most of the women who track their 31 00:02:04,680 --> 00:02:07,520 Speaker 1: time for me turned out to be working reasonable hours. 32 00:02:08,480 --> 00:02:12,600 Speaker 1: The average was forty four hours a week. Some work more, 33 00:02:12,639 --> 00:02:14,480 Speaker 1: of course, but the nature of an average is that 34 00:02:14,520 --> 00:02:18,160 Speaker 1: many people work less too. They also turned out to 35 00:02:18,160 --> 00:02:21,320 Speaker 1: be getting a reasonable amount of sleep. It is human 36 00:02:21,400 --> 00:02:25,400 Speaker 1: nature to remember our worst nights as typical, but a 37 00:02:25,440 --> 00:02:28,320 Speaker 1: bad night tends to be followed but not so bad night. 38 00:02:29,320 --> 00:02:34,079 Speaker 1: Most people don't have infants. People slept on average fifty 39 00:02:34,120 --> 00:02:36,840 Speaker 1: four hours a week, which averages out to seven point 40 00:02:36,880 --> 00:02:41,560 Speaker 1: seven hours per day. Subtract forty four and fifty four 41 00:02:41,639 --> 00:02:44,359 Speaker 1: from one hundred and sixty eight and you get seventy 42 00:02:44,400 --> 00:02:49,000 Speaker 1: hours for other things. So it is not surprising that 43 00:02:49,040 --> 00:02:52,120 Speaker 1: people spent a lot of time with their families. That 44 00:02:52,240 --> 00:02:55,480 Speaker 1: is the nature of sharing a home with people. You 45 00:02:55,520 --> 00:02:58,120 Speaker 1: are around them most mornings and evenings, and on the 46 00:02:58,120 --> 00:03:01,560 Speaker 1: weekends and so forth. It would not be unusual for 47 00:03:01,560 --> 00:03:04,080 Speaker 1: people to be spending thirty five to forty hours a 48 00:03:04,080 --> 00:03:07,880 Speaker 1: week around their kids, even with full time work hours. 49 00:03:08,919 --> 00:03:13,520 Speaker 1: This was quite a revelation. After all, people who work 50 00:03:13,760 --> 00:03:16,880 Speaker 1: thirty five to forty hours for pay don't complain that 51 00:03:16,919 --> 00:03:21,160 Speaker 1: they never see their jobs. A lot of women walk 52 00:03:21,200 --> 00:03:23,160 Speaker 1: around with the story that if they're not seeing their 53 00:03:23,240 --> 00:03:26,320 Speaker 1: kids at ten am on Tuesday, it doesn't count, but 54 00:03:26,360 --> 00:03:28,400 Speaker 1: there are a lot of other hours in the week. 55 00:03:29,560 --> 00:03:33,800 Speaker 1: Seeing these numbers changed people's stories. As one woman told me, 56 00:03:33,840 --> 00:03:37,000 Speaker 1: I used to feel guilt. I don't feel guilt anymore. 57 00:03:38,400 --> 00:03:41,520 Speaker 1: If you are worried that you are under investing in 58 00:03:41,600 --> 00:03:45,200 Speaker 1: some area of your life, you might try tracking your 59 00:03:45,240 --> 00:03:49,520 Speaker 1: time too. My guess is that whatever you are worried about, 60 00:03:50,280 --> 00:03:52,600 Speaker 1: you will see that you are doing something at least 61 00:03:53,120 --> 00:03:58,520 Speaker 1: some amount of the time. Maybe you claim you never exercise, 62 00:03:59,480 --> 00:04:02,040 Speaker 1: but you do go to the gym once and went 63 00:04:02,120 --> 00:04:05,520 Speaker 1: for a walk once during the week. That is twice. 64 00:04:05,640 --> 00:04:09,120 Speaker 1: That is not nothing. If you want to do more amazing, 65 00:04:09,960 --> 00:04:13,640 Speaker 1: but there is no reason to tell yourself the never story. 66 00:04:14,680 --> 00:04:16,480 Speaker 1: And if we are worried that you are not seeing 67 00:04:16,480 --> 00:04:19,720 Speaker 1: your kids, you might track that time too. Perhaps it 68 00:04:19,800 --> 00:04:21,479 Speaker 1: might not be as much time as you want, but 69 00:04:22,560 --> 00:04:27,479 Speaker 1: it might be as well. Tracking time often makes people 70 00:04:27,520 --> 00:04:31,440 Speaker 1: feel better about their time. I actually know this to 71 00:04:31,520 --> 00:04:35,360 Speaker 1: be true from my time diary projects, where time satisfaction 72 00:04:35,520 --> 00:04:39,560 Speaker 1: levels rise after a week of tracking. So if you 73 00:04:40,240 --> 00:04:44,240 Speaker 1: want to banish the guilt, maybe you can try tracking 74 00:04:44,279 --> 00:04:48,320 Speaker 1: as well. You just might be surprised at what the 75 00:04:48,440 --> 00:04:55,000 Speaker 1: data show in the meantime. This is Laura. Thanks for listening, 76 00:04:55,839 --> 00:05:05,800 Speaker 1: and here's to making the most of our time. Thanks 77 00:05:05,800 --> 00:05:09,960 Speaker 1: for listening to Before Breakfast. If you've got questions, ideas, 78 00:05:10,080 --> 00:05:13,480 Speaker 1: or feedback, you can reach me at Laura at Laura 79 00:05:13,600 --> 00:05:22,880 Speaker 1: vandercam dot com. Before Breakfast is a production of iHeartMedia. 80 00:05:23,560 --> 00:05:27,520 Speaker 1: For more podcasts from iHeartMedia, please visit the iHeartRadio app, 81 00:05:27,800 --> 00:05:31,040 Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.