Are you always busy, busy, busy? Do you tell people you worked 60 hours a week and claim to sleep six hours a night? As you lament to anyone stuck next to you at parties, you might be basically too busy to breathe? Do you want to work just 45 hours a week and sleep close to eight hours a night? Doing so you will not get any less done.
The secret behind it is to keep track of how you spend your time. We all have the same 168 hours per week — a few people contemplate even as they talk about 24X7 job — but since time passes whether you acknowledge it or not, you seldom think through exactly how you are spending your hours. Owning up to how you are spend your hours gives you more control of your time, and ultimately, of your lives.
Here’s how to do it —
Keep a time log
If you’ve ever tried to lose weight, you may have tried keeping a food journal. Like tracking meals, tracking time keeps you from spending it mindlessly or lying to yourself about what you do with it. Write down what you’re doing as often as you remember for at least a week. Add up the totals. Checking Facebook five times a day at six minutes a pop adds up to two-and-a-half hours in a workweek.
Be honest
While Americans claim to sleep six to seven hours per night, time logs show that they sleep more than eight. One study tracking people’s estimated and actual work-weeks found that those claiming to work 70, 80, or more hours week logging less than 60. Ask yourself what you’d like to do with your time. Claiming to be busy relieves us of the burden of choice. But if you’re working 50 hours a week, and sleeping eight hours a night (56 per week) that leaves 62 hours for other things. That’s plenty of hours for a family life and a personal life — exercising, volunteering, sitting on the porch with the paper, plus watching TV if you like. Set goals — maybe three hours of exercise and swapping out two hours of TV for reading — and see where in your 168 hours you could make that happen.
Changing your language
Instead of saying “I don’t have time” try saying “it’s not a priority”. Often, that’s a perfectly adequate explanation — “I have time to iron my sheets, I just want to”. But other things are harder. Try it — “I’m not going to edit your résumé, sweetie, because it’s not a priority”, “I don’t go to the doctor because my health is not a priority”. If these phrases don’t sit well, that’s the point. Changing your language reminds you that time is a choice. If you don’t like how your are spending an hour, you can choose differently.
— Agencies
