Hey friends! Happy Tuesday! For me, with the close of summer comes the revamping of routines, schedules, and new rhythms that tend to be more organized than they were in the summer months. I love summer and being more relaxed about how I spend my time, but I will always be a creature of habit and find a sort of peace when the school year rolls around and I know my schedule will be the same each week. With that in mind, I’m popping by today for a quick tip that has been HUGE for keeping me on track with my business! Time logging!
What, why, and how? Let’s dig in!
Have you ever finished a week and felt like you were busy non- stop but can’t name anything you got done? Yeah, I’m pretty familiar with that feeling! Enter: time logging! This is exactly what it sounds like! Keep a log of what you do every 30 minutes for an entire week (or better yet, an entire month!) and it will blow your mind! The first time I did this I ended up using this strategy for about 6 weeks straight and saw improvement every week.
Knowing exactly what you did all day helps clarify a few things
- How much time you spend distracted
- What areas of your day could be more efficient
- How much time you spend working
- How much time you spend resting
- How much time you spend with people who are important to you
- How much sleep you get
- And lots more!!
For me, I realized that I spent a lot of time at my desk, but not a whole lot of time getting stuff done. Other weeks, I felt like I hadn’t accomplished anything, but after looking back through my log I realized I had gotten way more done than I thought! It can be both helpful and encouraging!
I now love to set goals for my log. For example, “spend less than 1 hour on emails every day,” “take a 30-minute lunch break” (rather than eating at my desk), or “hit 40 hours of work.” It helps me stay on track and maximize my time!
I use this worksheet by Nancy Ray and love it!
This exercise will help you see where your time is going and help you adjust course to make sure you are using your time wisely! Try it out and let me know what you think!
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