I’m a watch guy, I’ve always loved watches and not the digital ones, the analog ones. The hands sweeping around the circle in what seems to be an infinite journey that starts at the beginning, goes to the end and then starts all over again. If you think about it, time is the heart of the circle of life. It is the one predator we can’t outrun. But maybe if we learn how, we can out smart it.
Recently I was balancing my clients against my available hours, and you could say I went down the rabbit hole (an Alice in Wonderland moment for sure, sorry to change movies for a second). I started thinking about how I spend my day and how effective I am at managing time. Acting like any good consultant would, I started determining what areas or categories of time I had, what I was doing and what was the benefit of what I was doing.
To be clear, I’m not going to talk about how you balance your time or your life. That’s a very personal conversation and is very dependent on your circumstances, desires, health and a ton of other variables that only you can know. I am going to talk about where your time goes.
After much deliberation, refinement and an hour-long conversation with my oldest son, here are my categories:
- Primary Work – your job or business
- Secondary Work – 2nd job, side gig, lifetime learning
- Social and Meals
- Exercise – both mental and physical
- Personal care – sleep, grooming etc.
- Chief Home Officer – family time, DIY, bills, cleaning, laundry, etc.
Now draw a circle and make it a 24 hour clock. For the next few days, log your hours by category and make a list of accomplishments during that time frame (i.e. got over 4 hours of sleep or best haircut ever).
Finally, pick a category you want to do better in (i.e. get more exercise) and make a plan. My suggestion is that if you aim to improve something, try to schedule just 20 minutes to make it happen. You might be surprised at how refreshed 20 minutes of “something different” will make you feel and how it will positively impact your performance in other categories. You might even be able to think more clearly about “What’s Next After Next” or some other “Problem Free Philosophy” (how about that, we made it back full circle). Hakuna Matata!