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.