Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: Good Morning. This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.
Speaker 1: Today's tip is to try tracking time when you are
Speaker 1: not working, such as on weekends and particularly on vacation.
Speaker 1: I know that sounds a little strange as a tip,
Speaker 1: like maybe I don't understand the concept of a vacation,
Speaker 1: but I have found that tracking time truly cements memories
Speaker 1: and helps me appreciate this time off the clock. More
Speaker 1: time keeps passing no matter what we do, and so
Speaker 1: it is easy to spend time mindlessly. We often need
Speaker 1: to be accountable for our work hours. Either we are
Speaker 1: paid by the hour, or we need to build clients,
Speaker 1: or at least we need to get things done at
Speaker 1: certain times. The whole phrase off the clock hence at
Speaker 1: a difference between work and not work. One of the
Speaker 1: theoretical benefits of not work time is not needing to
Speaker 1: pay attention to the passing minutes. And yet that is
Speaker 1: not really true. If you have kids or pets, you
Speaker 1: are no doubt accountable for them and their upkeep at
Speaker 1: certain times. We all have household responsibilities. We need to
Speaker 1: sleep certain quantities of ours in order to maintain our
Speaker 1: health and energy. We also have things we wish to
Speaker 1: do with our discretionary time, whether that's adventures or time
Speaker 1: with friends or hobbies. These things tend not to happen
Speaker 1: unless we are intentional about them and choose times for them.
Speaker 1: When we are intentional, we tend to have a better
Speaker 1: recall of our time. But even so, our memories can
Speaker 1: easily slip away. We can look at photos, but those
Speaker 1: only capture well snapshots in time. When you record how
Speaker 1: you spend your time, on the other hand, the memories
Speaker 1: become more accessible. You can conjure almost all of them
Speaker 1: back up. Indeed, it's not that hard to do so.
Speaker 1: I have been tracking my time continuously since April. I
Speaker 1: check in about three times a day and write what
Speaker 1: I've done since the last check in. This only takes
Speaker 1: me a minute each time, so we're talking three minutes
Speaker 1: a day. It's about the same amount of time I
Speaker 1: spend brushing my teeth. My memory is as faulty as
Speaker 1: the next person's, but because I have these records, I
Speaker 1: am able to bring back all sorts of memories. For instance,
Speaker 1: I recently decided to pull up a week in April
Speaker 1: to compare it to April. I knew roughly that we
Speaker 1: had gone to Hawaii in April, but thanks to my
Speaker 1: time log, I know what we did on the plane
Speaker 1: right there. I remember the process of getting our rental car.
Speaker 1: I remember the pizza we found that first night, and
Speaker 1: whether we went on the resort water slides in the
Speaker 1: afternoon or morning, and which afternoon it was. That I
Speaker 1: spent a lovely hour reading on the balcony while my
Speaker 1: kids were at the kids club. All of it is
Speaker 1: still there. Having those memories there and accessible is a
Speaker 1: huge upside, and the only cost was being willing to
Speaker 1: spend three minutes a day recording what I've done now.
Speaker 1: I know that some people worry that noting how they
Speaker 1: spend their time on vacation would make them feel less relaxed,
Speaker 1: But I guess my question is why it's not a judgment.
Speaker 1: No one really cares if you spent an hour watching
Speaker 1: TV when there was a fabulous sunset going on outside
Speaker 1: and you just missed it. Whoops. No one cares if
Speaker 1: you stayed up until two am some night reading or whatever.
Speaker 1: It is just information. You don't need to learn any
Speaker 1: lessons based on this log. Instead, think of it as memory.
Speaker 1: Keeping like a scrap book. When you have a good time,
Speaker 1: you'll be able to look back later at the log
Speaker 1: and note every hour of this precious time. When you
Speaker 1: look at the photos, that will reinforce the time records,
Speaker 1: and all of this will help you truly believe that
Speaker 1: you live a rich and full life. So why not
Speaker 1: give it a try. If you want to take baby steps,
Speaker 1: try tracking time over the weekend for a few weekends
Speaker 1: just to get in the habit. Hopefully you will have
Speaker 1: some adventures then to remember as well, and you will
Speaker 1: be ready to get tracking the next time you go
Speaker 1: somewhere special. In the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for
Speaker 1: list thinks and here's to making the most of our time. Hey, everybody,
Speaker 1: I'd love to hear from you. You can send me
Speaker 1: your tips, your questions, or anything else. Just connect with
Speaker 1: me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at Before Breakfast pod
Speaker 1: that's B the number four then breakfast p o D.
Speaker 1: You can also shoot me an email at Before Breakfast
Speaker 1: podcast at i heeart media dot com That Before Breakfast
Speaker 1: is spelled out with all the letters. Thanks so much,
Speaker 1: should I look forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast
Speaker 1: is a production of I heart Radio. For more podcasts
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