Days fly by. Summers get shorter as we get older, and all too often, life ends too soon.
I’ve never met a single person wishing for less time. Instead, we want more hours in the day, or an extra day on the end of a weekend. We all want more of this precious resource.
This is not to say that your time has be filled by getting things done. I’m a big fan of unproductivity, and when I got home from the grocery store this weekend to find my husband and my dog lying on our front lawn staring up at our big maple tree, I couldn’t help but smile. I was joyful that he was taking a little time to just be.
Remember when we tracked spending, and what came out of it? The first step of this mini-mission is to track your time. For the next 3 days, jot down how you spend your time including:
- How many times you check your email each day. (even just a glance)
- How much time you spend sending and receiving email.
- How much time you spend cleaning or organizing stuff.
- How much time you spend shopping for anything other than necessities.
- How much time you spend on Facebook, Twitter and G+ (business or pleasure)
- How much time you spend watching TV, including the news.
- How much time you spend reading blogs or other websites.
- How many times you “check your phone” for email, voicemail, or anything your phone delivers? iphone and crackberry users are the biggest offenders, myself included.
- How much time you spend playing video games on your TV, phone, or computer?
- How much time you spend browsing the web at work or at home?
Time spent on any of the above is not bad, but it’s good to know where your time is going. In addition to the time spent on any digital activies, add 5-10 minutes to compensate for how long it takes you to get back to what you were doing, before you were distracted. Unless you are mindfully NOT engaging in one of the above activities, chances are you are spending much more time than you think doing them.
After three days of tracking, see where your biggest waste of time lies, and cut it out for a week. For instance, if you notice that you spend a total of 3 hours a day watching TV, unplug the TV for one week. See what it’s like to have an extra 21 hours of time. If you glance at your email 10 times a day and spend 4 hours sending and receiving it, cut it out (except what you need to keep for work obligations).
Maybe you are wasting time doing something else. Be honest with yourself and make a change. If you spend too much time (and money) shopping or getting dressed, check out How to Curb Your Passion for Fashion and join thousands of people, from all over the world dressing with less.
There are 24 hours in a day. If you sleep for 8, you have 16 left. Even if you work 10 hours a day, there are still 6 potentially amazing hours left. 6 hours to do whatever you want. 6 hours that can be spent your way, on purpose. By recognizing where you spend your time, and shifting direction, you can make time.
What is your biggest time suck and how do you really want to spend your time? Feel free to answer now in the comment section below, or weigh in after three days of tracking your time with any surprises.
For more experiments to simplify your life, read Mini-missions for Simplicity. It’s available on the Amazon Kindle store, but you don’t need a Kindle to read it. Kindle books can also be read using the Free Kindle Reader App for your Web Browser, PC, Mac, iPad, iPhone, BlackBerry, or Android.
Hi there!
I’m so overwhelmed! I am just warming up to minimalist ideas and trying to be satisfied with what I have. I have horrible time management. Previously, I would work myself to death, not sleep to get everything done, and be stressed all the time. I have begun a new phase in my life now: I’m no longer working and am focusing on myself. It is a difficult journey. It is uncomfortable to not be productive all the time and not have a schedule for myself. I know I do all the things listed above WAY too much, but I’m not sure how to really stop, especially when I don’t have a real job. Sometimes I feel like I need to be reading blogs about the things I think I want to do to educate and prepare. Do you have any advice?
Also, I’m just beginning to take a look at my closet to try to minimalize. It is hard because I have business clothes (that I haven’t worn, but not sure if I will need in my uncertain future), some formal clothes, some casual clothes, and don’t want to just get rid of all my clothes. Is it possible that I’m trying to do too much at one time? Is there a way to revamp your whole self without getting overwhelmed?
I hope I didn’t vent and ramble too much for a comment! I welcome advice and insight!
Hi Paula,
The trick is to take the time to figure out how you really WANT to spend your time, instead of filling your time with things that distract you. It’s ok to feel uncomfortable. Use that discomfort to answer some of the big questions you have.
Instead of trying to change everything, start slowly and pick one thing. I think you will feel less overwhelmed.
Oh goodness this is PERFECT timing. I’m an internet fiend, mainly e-mail, blogs, and Facebook. I find it hard also because any time I think of a question, I can just Google away. I love/hate that information and human “connections” are basically available 24/7. As a stay at home mom, it often feels like the internet is my only means for adult interaction some days. I definitely need to do this challenge and try some tactics to reduce my internet usage. Thank you immensely for such an amazing challenge!
I’ll be interested to see what you come up with after tracking your time for 3 days!
Darn… have just spent 15 minutes reading a post that tells me things I actually already know… that I should spend less time on the blogs and social networks! 🙂
Aline, It helps to set aside time just for reading blogs, or just for something else, and then once the time is up, move on. It’s less distracting that way.
This is such a good extra tip Courtney. Most of the time it’s not what we’re actually doing that’s wasting time, it’s the way we’re doing it – skipping in and out and never settling our focus on one single task or project.
I have an image of a little bee buzzing from flower to flower but never landing, never gathering any pollen, then returning back to the hive at the end of each day, wondering where the time had disappeared to and having nothing to show for it.
Setting specific chunks of time for different activities then, like you say, moving on when the time is up, encourages us to be more mindful and less distracted within those chunks of time.
So it appears that we are making time out of nothing, when in fact we’re just getting more focused and reducing distraction.
Excellent topic to cover.
It’s so funny that you wrote what I had just said out loud to myself…..”Stop checking your emails and Facebook/Twitter accounts all day!” I feel like it’s an addiction. Most of my time is spent online (writing, blogging, networking, etc) so it’s very easy to “just check for a minute” on my social media accounts. I am going to try VERY hard to cut this time down, down, down…. If you don’t hear from me in awhile, you’ll know why!:)
It’s a true addiction…. Facebook more than anything else. It was somehow easy to stop when I was sort of “reporting” to someone. How easily I’ve fallen back into it. The e-mail thing too. Not so much twitter. I get on and get off yet I seem to find the coolest things on twitter these days.
Anyway, I’ve stared the tracking project as of now. Thanks for once again the most fabulous ideas on how to stay on track and be happier about it.
Hi, this post is great, but, I don’t agree with measuring time only in terms of hours. It’s not the same to work 10 hours at a challenging energetic workspace than to work 10 hours at a very demanding job. You get out of the latter exhausted, and 6 hours don’t seem enough to recover. What you do at work is also a predictor of what kind of activity or lack of activity you crave afterwork.
Besides, most people would have to add to those 10 hours: commuting, cooking, washing clothes, doing some housework, makeup, bathroom activities, showering, clipping nails, making coffee, feeding a dog or watering plants… I am a young adult and let me tell you I am not getting used to so much work with so little time… trust me, I don’t have a T.V. to lose time on, I don’t like shopping and I get help to do my house cleaning once a week…
My point is, those 6 hours are not six in reality, and our energy to make them quality time is influenced greatly by what we do the rest of the day.
It’s funny, hubs and I have started with the no tv during the week rule and it’s working really well for us. We read or talk or just sit quietly once the kids arexasleep. It’s a recharge after busy days all round.
I agree that how the preceding time is psent can impact on the leftover time. I would also suggest that 10 hours in front of the TV, once eliminated is not going to give you 10 hours of free time. Because it’s going to get gobbled up before you know it with all the other things on the list!
It’s true that in the age of technology we can while away far too much time on social media though – it’s a way of feeling connected and of value, even to strangers!
I think we set our own priorities and my way to evaluate how I’m spending my time is to look at my day and say, not ”did i achieve everything i wanted to today”, but “am i satisfied with how I spent my time today”. If that includes 2 hours in the bath, or looking at trees, or reading blogs, then that’s just fine.
Love it! Thanks for the reminder…off to go lay in the hammock with my new puppy!
Signing OFF, Joseph
Constantly check fb, emails and drive myself nuts. Not getting my own posts done, information overload. So it’s back to basics again…. ciao bella
Lisa
Great post. I cannot agree more of the importance of knowing how you spend your time. I write a blog called Time and Money Connection and did that very exercise. I found out some very interesting information about how I use my TIME. Some of your readers maybe intersted in what I did in my 1 Week Time Tracking Challenge (http://www.timeandmoneyconnection.com/2011/05/1-week-time-tracking-challenge.html)I have over 35 post related to our use of TIME. My latest post “Become Mindful about TIME” may also be of interest to your readers.
Keep up the great work Courtney
Thanks for your mail :-)! I like them very much.
Time enjoyed is never wasted. I think too much emphasis is put on tracking of time and productivity. Doing something you dislike might be wasted, if the task is not necessary, but if you enjoy an activity, productive or not, then the time was well-spent.
Also, I the new clean look, Courtney!
I have to tell you that this post really opened my eyes. I work full time and while I like my job I constantly feel like I have no time to do things I enjoy. I just never actually stopped to count the hours that are my own, and there are many more than I thought. So now, instead of spending those hours feeling drained thinking about what I can’t do, I find I have much more energy when I think of all I can do (or not do) in 6 or so hours a day.
Thank you for the valuable post.
To help improve the value of my time:
I recently deleted my FB account- which the acct will not officially be deleted for another 9 days. FB gives you two weeks to change your mind! All one has to do is log back in before 14 days after “deleting”! Unbelievable! LOL
I also started using e.ggtimer.com to help me time block efficiently. “Trust the timer!”