One thing I’m always worried about is not having enough time to do everything I want to do. I find that worrying about this often wastes time! I fear that I can only accomplish a few goals for the day, or that I cannot get to the avocations that fulfill me due to work, obligations, or indecision. I often see people navigating the hours of their day will little to no problems or fear of not getting enough done. They don’t seem as worried about this problem as I do. There could be many reasons for this, but I often envy their organizational skills or ways that they prioritize their time. Where do they find the time?
A friend suggested breaking down my day by the 1/2 hour and seeing what I spend my time on. Perhaps then I can see where it goes!
Thinking it a great idea I started right away. I tracked my half hours for a little over a week. It may not have been an idea week as we were dealing with a lot. Our eldest cat was dying and it took a lot of time and care. Although this fact might have made my week a little more scattered and my priorities slightly different than a “normal” week, I still think marking my 1/2 was super informative!!
I started by finding a physical notepad to write the full day in 1/2 hour increments. You could of course do this digitally as well, but I like to sit down and write and read these sort of experiments. After each day, I would look over what I had done. I added a spot for notes, but never really used this, keeping my notes in my head, instead. I always knew I was a flitter, but this productivity experiment confirmed it. Aside fro work and sleep, almost every half hour was divided with several tasks. Writing and watching youtube, sewing and listening to a book, a little cleaning, a little eating, a little work. I flitted from one thing to another, never really getting into the meat of any project or task. This was heightened by having to give our cat meds, fluids and check on him every few minutes, but only slightly. Although, this wasn’t exactly new info, seeing it this way put it in some kind of new perspective.
Working for other people, commuting to work, getting ready for work took up a lot of time. Seeing all those half hours and knowing that they didn’t even include the time spent each section of the day worrying about work was also not a surprise. Also, not surprising, I spend a lot of time sleeping. The later, I prob won’t change much, but having a more set wake up and nap time would be helpful.
Overall, this exercise made me realize some things about how I work and what I do that I would like to change. I now know that grouping time to do certain tasks would be more productive for me. For instance, taking a solid hour or ore to write, read, clean, etc… would help me for getting things done and having more time for all that I want to do. Now I just have to put that into practice!
Would you try this exercise?
