One thing I think we’re all aware of is the limitation of time. And we’ve probably all heard the expression it’s not that you don’t have time for something it’s that you haven’t prioritized it. Ok true.
But what do we do when we find that we don’t have enough time for all the things we want to prioritize? So maybe we have too many priorities or maybe something else is off. Personally, this is top of mind because since I’ve become an exercise person I’ve realized that I have had a lot less time for things.
Sidenote: I refer to myself as an exercise person because what we see as a part of our identity is more likely to be fulfilled.
When I find I hit time periods where I’m not as productive the first thing I do is time-track. I have a lot of my clients do some time-tracking. The suggestion is at least 2 weeks to account for some variation of activity in 15-30 minute increments, during work and personal time. And while not everyone is enthusiastic about this everyone comes back with at least one aha.
So if you haven’t time-tracked, things in your life change significantly, or you find time sort of slipping away it might be a great time to track.
Since I’ve done some baseline time-tracking I can usually do a quick check-in to see where things are on or off what I think they are. With a reminder that thinking I know where I’m spending my time and knowing I know where I’m spending my time are two different things.
And once you have a sense of where you are spending your time then you have something to work with. Then it’s time for some questions:
- What surprised me in how I’m spending my time? What themes am I noticing?
- What’s important to me and how much does my time reflect my priorities?
- How much were things planned vs unexpected? Self-initiated vs reactive? Energizing vs draining?
- What are things that I can 6Ds: Delete, Defer, Diminish, Digitize, Delegate? before I get to the things that I’m going to Do.
- How can I be more efficient about the things I prioritize as a Do?
For me it wasn’t just that I added more exercise it’s that I mostly added that during my “workday”. So yes this morning I got a walk in before I started my day. And I’m percolating on a few other ways to adjust to better satisfy my priorities for my days.
But that wasn’t the only thing going on. I have also started having less focus on prioritizing and time blocking. And for me, this led to two issues.
- Longer breaks and downtime – Don’t get me wrong I’m all for prioritizing rest and leisure but that means my choosing as opposed to finding myself scrolling my phone after I’ve finished a coaching session or increasing the hours of tv I watch without noticing
- Productive procrastination – For me, it’s working on things that are technically productive but either not my priorities or spending more time on something than is warranted, I’ve been known to spend more time on maintenance tasks, get distracted by requests from others, or go down a rabbit hole
So I’m doing this email in the time I have blocked for sending an email. And I have a half hour blocked to review my other priorities and calendar.
How do you feel about how you’re spending your time? Would you be game to give time tracking a try?
Loved the level of importance Dana places on self-awareness, as she emphasizes the crucial difference between perception and truth. Sharing time-tracking provides a tangible solution for busy individuals like myself to assess productivity and prioritize effectively. So helpful!