WEBVTT - Your calendar and reality 0:00:03.440 --> 0:00:06.720 Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio. 0:00:09.119 --> 0:00:15.120 Good Morning, This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. 0:00:16.520 --> 0:00:20.160 Today's tip is that your calendar and your lived life 0:00:20.560 --> 0:00:25.079 can look very different. By paying attention to the differences, 0:00:25.920 --> 0:00:30.680 you can become more effective with your time. When this 0:00:30.760 --> 0:00:35.040 episode is first airing in January, I am leading a 0:00:35.159 --> 0:00:38.839 time tracking challenge where hundreds of people are logging their 0:00:38.880 --> 0:00:42.160 time for a week. We are all trying to figure 0:00:42.200 --> 0:00:45.080 out where the time really goes so we can make 0:00:45.120 --> 0:00:49.920 wise decisions. If that sounds good to you, then feel 0:00:49.920 --> 0:00:53.000 free to join in. You just write down what you're 0:00:53.040 --> 0:00:57.120 doing as often as you remember, and keep going for 0:00:57.160 --> 0:01:04.120 a week. Then you can cell reflect or change. When 0:01:04.120 --> 0:01:06.679 I suggest people try tracking their time for a week, 0:01:06.720 --> 0:01:10.120 I've had a few folks simply send me their calendars. 0:01:11.040 --> 0:01:13.679 On some level, it makes sense, and hey, it sounds 0:01:13.720 --> 0:01:17.120 far more efficient to email an existing file than to 0:01:17.200 --> 0:01:20.880 actually write down your activities for a week. But there 0:01:20.920 --> 0:01:24.920 are a few problems with this approach. First, many people's 0:01:24.920 --> 0:01:29.080 calendars don't cover the hours outside say seven am to 0:01:29.200 --> 0:01:33.360 nine pm. I mean, the hours might exist on the calendar, 0:01:33.880 --> 0:01:37.200 but people tend not to actually put things in those slots, 0:01:38.280 --> 0:01:44.000 and yet life continues to be lived in those slots. 0:01:44.040 --> 0:01:49.640 Something happened. But what if people primarily use their calendars 0:01:49.680 --> 0:01:52.800 for work, then their weekends might also not contain much 0:01:52.800 --> 0:01:56.360 information as to what's going on. And yet that time 0:01:56.640 --> 0:02:01.080 is real time too. It really happened, and it really counts. 0:02:02.440 --> 0:02:05.120 But even if you're the rare sort who actually put 0:02:05.160 --> 0:02:07.600 on your calendar what you intended to do all one 0:02:08.040 --> 0:02:10.480 sixty eight hours of the week, including when you plan 0:02:10.600 --> 0:02:13.880 to go to sleep and wake up, you can immediately 0:02:13.919 --> 0:02:16.959 see that there is going to be an issue. Life 0:02:17.320 --> 0:02:21.000 is not going to go exactly as you planned all 0:02:21.080 --> 0:02:24.440 one sixty eight hours of the week. Some night, you 0:02:24.480 --> 0:02:26.360 might stay up later than expect it, or go to 0:02:26.400 --> 0:02:29.520 bed earlier. Some morning, you'd intend to shower at a 0:02:29.520 --> 0:02:32.000 certain point, but you'd get an unexpected phone call and 0:02:32.240 --> 0:02:35.000 might be laid out the door. You might cancel a 0:02:35.000 --> 0:02:38.240 meeting and spend that time on something else. A family 0:02:38.240 --> 0:02:41.400 outing ends at nine pm, not eight pm, because you 0:02:41.440 --> 0:02:45.080 were all having a good time. Whatever you put on 0:02:45.120 --> 0:02:47.880 your calendar is going to wind up diverging from how 0:02:47.960 --> 0:02:51.040 you actually spend the one d sixty eight hours of 0:02:51.080 --> 0:02:55.840 the week. And that is fine, how would anyone know 0:02:56.040 --> 0:02:59.839 exactly what life would look like in the future If 0:02:59.840 --> 0:03:02.840 we did know that, we do far more cool things 0:03:02.880 --> 0:03:06.000 with that knowledge than just be able to guess exactly 0:03:06.000 --> 0:03:09.720 how long the traffic delays would be on Thursday versus Friday. 0:03:11.000 --> 0:03:13.839 So don't think of your calendar as a time log. 0:03:14.880 --> 0:03:19.480 These are separate things. However, you can learn a lot 0:03:19.680 --> 0:03:22.680 by comparing a time log that is a trapped record 0:03:22.960 --> 0:03:26.400 of how you actually spent your time with your calendar. 0:03:27.520 --> 0:03:31.680 One thing you will learn which time estimates are off. 0:03:33.000 --> 0:03:35.640 Maybe you always block sixty minutes for a twice a 0:03:35.640 --> 0:03:38.840 week meeting that has a bad habit of taking ninety minutes. 0:03:39.920 --> 0:03:42.920 Once you see that discrepancy, you can start blocking in 0:03:42.960 --> 0:03:46.040 a longer amount of time, or at least not planning 0:03:46.080 --> 0:03:50.680 anything important for right afterwards. Or you could chat with 0:03:50.720 --> 0:03:53.400 your fellow meeting attendees to see if you could be 0:03:53.440 --> 0:03:57.200 more realistic about what you need to get done. You 0:03:57.280 --> 0:04:00.000 might also see what is realistic for your energy levels 0:04:00.520 --> 0:04:05.400 and what is not. Perhaps you constantly wind up canceling 0:04:05.600 --> 0:04:09.760 your Thursday night plans you don't do what you'd put 0:04:09.800 --> 0:04:13.920 on your calendar. That's good to know. Maybe you are 0:04:14.000 --> 0:04:17.760 just worn out by the end of the week. That 0:04:17.839 --> 0:04:21.479 might be a good night to leave open, or alternately, 0:04:22.160 --> 0:04:27.120 schedule something you know you will not cancel. And finally, 0:04:27.240 --> 0:04:31.520 you see how much other time there is a calendar 0:04:31.640 --> 0:04:34.240 of stuff that went from say, seven in the morning 0:04:34.279 --> 0:04:37.840 to seven at night Monday to Friday. Might make you 0:04:37.880 --> 0:04:42.480 feel like life was absolutely full. But that is only 0:04:42.839 --> 0:04:47.679 sixty hours. There are sixty eight hours in a week. 0:04:48.720 --> 0:04:52.119 Where does the other time go? If you work long 0:04:52.160 --> 0:04:55.680 hours Monday to end of day Thursday, you might feel 0:04:55.680 --> 0:04:59.479 like that is all your time. You have no work 0:04:59.520 --> 0:05:05.400 life bound. Let's but that is only half of the week. 0:05:06.640 --> 0:05:09.880 Where does the other half go? It's worth asking this 0:05:09.960 --> 0:05:17.280 question and maybe revising your story. So yes, calendars are great. 0:05:17.920 --> 0:05:20.279 We need calendars to tell us what we plan to 0:05:20.279 --> 0:05:24.479 do with our time. Just remember that they seldom match 0:05:24.640 --> 0:05:30.240 up exactly with reality and they seldom contain all our time. 0:05:31.720 --> 0:05:37.520 Best to get a holistic picture in the meantime. This 0:05:37.600 --> 0:05:41.560 is Laura. Thanks for listening, and here's to making the 0:05:41.640 --> 0:05:51.280 most of our time. Hey, everybody, I'd love to hear 0:05:51.279 --> 0:05:54.080 from you. You can send me your tips, your questions, 0:05:54.160 --> 0:05:57.880 or anything else. Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook, 0:05:58.040 --> 0:06:03.520 and Instagram at Before Breakfast pod that's B the number four, 0:06:04.040 --> 0:06:07.560 then Breakfast p o D. You can also shoot me 0:06:07.600 --> 0:06:11.960 an email at Before Breakfast podcast. At iHeartMedia dot com 0:06:11.960 --> 0:06:14.480 that before Breakfast is spelled out with all the letters. 0:06:15.080 --> 0:06:17.160 Thanks so much, I look forward to staying in touch. 0:06:23.000 --> 0:06:26.120 Before Breakfast is a production of I heart Radio. For 0:06:26.200 --> 0:06:29.240 more podcasts from my heart Radio, visit the i heart 0:06:29.320 --> 0:06:32.680 Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your 0:06:32.720 --> 0:06:33.400 favorite shows.