Your Balanced Life!

Monday, May 29, 2006

Where does your time go?

Last week, I challenged a group of college students I was teaching to monitor their time for a week so see where they were spending it. Do you know where your time goes?

So often I hear from clients that they don't have enough time. Time is a non-renewable resource - no matter what way you look at it, we only have 24 hours in a day, 7 days in a week. How do you want to spend your time?

I would also challenge you, my readers, to take note of where your time is going. You can try this exercise on your own, at your own pace. For a week track where all your time is going - how much you sleep, how much time you work, commute, spend with family and friends, and of course...those things that I call "time-suckers". More on this in a second.

To track your time you can use your calendar on your computer, your Day Planner, or even a hand-drawn grid of 24 hours x 7 days.

As you move through your week of time-tracking, what patterns are you noticing? Where is your time really going? Is it aligned with those things that are most important to you? Or, like I do somethmes, do you get trapped by the "time-suckers". Time-suckers are thos things that have zero value and minimal impact on your life. Some things that fall in this category include TV, web-surfing, phone calls/chatting.

So, where are your time-suckers? Try this exercise out for a week, and at the end of it, take a good look at where your time is going. Is your time going where you want it to go or do you want to make some changes? It's your choice. How do you want to use this non-renewable resource?

Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized
Email: jennifer@potentialsrealized.com
Website: www.potentialsrealized.com