WEBVTT - How to track your time

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning,

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<v Speaker 1>This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's

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<v Speaker 1>tip is about how to track your time. Figuring out

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<v Speaker 1>where the time really goes is the first step to

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<v Speaker 1>spending it better, and I promise that tracking time is

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<v Speaker 1>less tedious than it probably sounds. So if you are

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<v Speaker 1>listening to this episode when it first airs in January

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<v Speaker 1>of twenty twenty five, This week I am running my

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<v Speaker 1>annual time tracking challenge. Lots of us will track our

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<v Speaker 1>time for a week to gather people often want to

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<v Speaker 1>spend their time better. It's a common New Year's resolution

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<v Speaker 1>to get more organized. But if you don't know where

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<v Speaker 1>the time is going now, it is hard to know

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<v Speaker 1>if you are changing the right thing. Maybe something you

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<v Speaker 1>thought was a problem really isn't. Maybe something you haven't

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<v Speaker 1>considered is taking more time than you realized. You want

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<v Speaker 1>to be working from good data, you can track any

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<v Speaker 1>amount of time you want, but I always suggest tracking

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<v Speaker 1>a full week. That's because while work days are interesting,

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<v Speaker 1>they are not the full amount of your time. Weekends

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<v Speaker 1>are real time, too. It really counts. Tracking one hundred

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<v Speaker 1>and sixty eight hours will help you create a more

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<v Speaker 1>holistic picture of your life now. Of course, when I

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<v Speaker 1>suggest tracking one hundred and sixty eight hours of time,

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<v Speaker 1>you can imagine that people are often a bit hesitant.

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<v Speaker 1>It sounds like a lot of work. Do you have

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<v Speaker 1>to write things down every few minutes for all one

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<v Speaker 1>hundred and sixty eight hours. The good news is that

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<v Speaker 1>the answer is absolutely not. I have been tracking my

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<v Speaker 1>time for almost ten years straight, and there is no

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<v Speaker 1>way I would would have stuck with this if it

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<v Speaker 1>were particularly onerous. I only check in a few times

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<v Speaker 1>each day, about three minutes. You can do this if

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<v Speaker 1>you're interested in tracking your time with me and others

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<v Speaker 1>this week, or I guess with me any week. It's

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<v Speaker 1>pretty simple. This episode is about how to do it,

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<v Speaker 1>or at least how I do it. I use a

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<v Speaker 1>spreadsheet that has half hour blocks. I put the days

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<v Speaker 1>of the week across the top Monday to Sunday, and

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<v Speaker 1>half hour blocks from five am to four thirty am

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<v Speaker 1>down the left hand side. You can download one of

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<v Speaker 1>these spreadsheets from my website, which is Laura vandercam dot com,

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<v Speaker 1>or you can create your own pretty easily. Then you

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<v Speaker 1>just check in maybe three to four times per day

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<v Speaker 1>and write down what you have done since the last

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<v Speaker 1>time you checked in. Now, to be sure, this is

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<v Speaker 1>not quite as straightforward as it sounds, as most people

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<v Speaker 1>are not used to describing time and daily actions in words,

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<v Speaker 1>so this is not the time to be a perfectionist.

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<v Speaker 1>You do not need to create neat categories and totals

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<v Speaker 1>at the end of the week if you don't want to,

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<v Speaker 1>just do your best. When you get up in the morning,

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<v Speaker 1>what do you do? Shower, get dressed, eat breakfast, drink coffee,

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<v Speaker 1>help other family members get ready, commute to work, go

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<v Speaker 1>to your home office. What do you do after that?

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<v Speaker 1>It is fine to use broad categories. If you are

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<v Speaker 1>half cooking and half watching children in the evening after work,

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<v Speaker 1>you could put kids slash cook. If you are doing

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<v Speaker 1>dishes while on a conference call, it is fine to

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<v Speaker 1>put work slash dishes or anything like that. If you

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<v Speaker 1>are lying in bed scrolling, feel free to write something

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<v Speaker 1>along those lines. No one is here to judge. This

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<v Speaker 1>is just about getting a reasonably accurate picture of your life. Now.

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<v Speaker 1>There will likely be some stretches of time that you

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<v Speaker 1>can't remember. You may also forget to check in and

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<v Speaker 1>then find that, say, ten hours have passed. If that

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<v Speaker 1>is the case, just do what you can. First, write

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<v Speaker 1>down anything time specific that you remember from those stretches

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<v Speaker 1>of time, Like if you looked at the clock and

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<v Speaker 1>saw you ate lunch at one pm on Saturday, and

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<v Speaker 1>you happen to remember that, write that down. Then try

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<v Speaker 1>to remember roughly what you did before and after. Some

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<v Speaker 1>people set alarms three times a day or so to

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<v Speaker 1>remind themselves to check in and write down what they

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<v Speaker 1>did before they forget. But if you do forget, it

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<v Speaker 1>is fine. It is better to keep going and see

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<v Speaker 1>what you can learn about your weeks rather than quit

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<v Speaker 1>in the middle because you are not going to be

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<v Speaker 1>able to construct a perfect pie chart later that this

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<v Speaker 1>isn't hard. If you would like to join me this week,

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<v Speaker 1>that is, starting January thirteenth, twenty twenty five, I will

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<v Speaker 1>be posting my time logs on my blog, feel free

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<v Speaker 1>to comment over there, And whenever you are listening to

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<v Speaker 1>this episode, just give time tracking a try. I promise

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<v Speaker 1>it is useful. You might discover some time that can

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<v Speaker 1>be repurposed for something fun. You might discover that you

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<v Speaker 1>are spending more time on your priorities than you thought

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<v Speaker 1>you were, and at the end of the week, you

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<v Speaker 1>will have an excellent artifact to remember the week by.

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<v Speaker 1>Lots of time just slips into the past, this week

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<v Speaker 1>won't because you will know how you spend all one

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<v Speaker 1>hundred and sixty eight hours. In the meantime, this is Laura.

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<v Speaker 1>Thanks for listening, and here's to making the most of

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<v Speaker 1>our time. Thanks for listening to Before Breakfast. If you've

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<v Speaker 1>got questions, ideas, or feedback, you can reach me at

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<v Speaker 1>Laura at Laura vandercam dot com. Before Breakfast is a

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<v Speaker 1>production of iHeartMedia. For more podcasts from iHeartMedia, please visit

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<v Speaker 1>the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to

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<v Speaker 1>your favorite shows.