Have you ever truly looked at where you are spending your time, virtually, minute by minute? This is the first order of business because I am sure you will be surprised. The first step to learning how to manage your time is to see how you are using it now. Once you know how you are spending your time, you can make changes to be more productive. Then you can take your employees on the same journey and end up with an awesome company full of efficient people who make lots of money and change other people’s lives for the better!
A time inventory is done by taking a small journal, calendar or notebook and writing down everything that you do during the day. This can be done for three or four days but really shows itself to be most effective when you can do it for a week or two, since there are many things that we only do one time per week.
Begin to track what you spend your time on. Write down everything. If you spend ten minutes on the phone, write it down. If you sleep for eight hours write it down. If you eat lunch for 45 minutes, write it down. If you commute 35 minutes each way, write it down. If you watch television for 3 hours, write it down.
Certainly even one day will begin to reveal some of your patterns. Even a basic day may show that you sleep for eight hours, eat for two and half hours, work for eight hours, drive for one and a half hours, talk on the phone for three hours, and watch television for three and a half hours, among other things of course! What you will begin to realize is that you are spending the right amount of time on some things and it appropriately fits your priorities. Other things you may realize you are neglecting. And certainly you will see that there are things you are spending an inordinate amount of time on that are opposed to your priorities.
After a few days or so of doing this, sit down and total up your “spending.” What does it look like? Where did it all go? Are you happy with how you spent it? These things will become clear, because if you track it moment by moment, the numbers will not lie.
Here’s what’s important to understand… time is more valuable than money. You can get more money, but you can’t get more time. Once it’s spent, it’s gone. Assessing our time expenditures is the first step, because it will show us that often our memory of how we spent our time can often be a little “foggy.” It’s powerful when we understand, grasp and apply the principle of wisely budgeting our time because we can help ourselves first and then we can help others.