In knowing how you are spending your time, you can find the places for improvement. As we reboot our lives, we need to have an accurate assessment of how you are spending your time.

Why Do A Time Audit?

A time audit can help you find places where you are putting in too much effort for the results returned. It can also help pinpoint pockets of time you can use to put to other uses, such as making your long-term goals come to fruition.

A time audit is not about boxing yourself into recording every last detail, but rather to get a feel for how you are spending your time.

How To Do Time Audits

There are different ways out there to do time audits.

Three bloggers I have read present three different ways to do time audits.

Emily at Organized Life has a great write up on her time audit at “Track Your Tasks with a Time Audit”. Based on a chart from the University of Minnesota at Duluth, it walks the fine line between too much detail and too little. This is a good starting place if you’ve never looked at your time before.

Bob over at Get Things Done uses a spreadsheet that is available from WaybackMachine.org. It automatically calculates how much time you are spending on up to 10 activities. I’ve expanded the spreadsheet, and it can be downloaded (Excel format) on my Free Stuff Page.

Mark Shead over at Productivity 501 has a different take on the time audit at Time Audit – How to do a time audit | Productivity501. He talks about capturing what you are doing, not just the general categories, and how to analyze the data after you do the time audit. He also suggests using some sort of alarm to remind you to enter the data.

One method that is not very precise, but is one that can work to give you a broad over view is to do a mini-review every six hours. Think about what you did during that time, and estimate how long you did each activity.

Time audits do not have to be overwhelming. They are not to punish you or make you feel guilty, but to help you get an accurate overview of how you are spending your time.

Do you have any time audit tips? Share below.

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In the last article, I talked about how to figure out what your projects are. Chances are, that if you made a complete list, you will find it is much longer than you thought.

If your project list doesn’t seem do-able, it could put you off working on them; or it might prevent things from getting done in a reasonable amount of time as you try to tend to far too many things.

In that case, you need to thin your project list.

Figuring Out What Needs To Go

For each of your outstanding projects, you need to look at it closely and ask yourself:

• Do I need to do this? Are you the one who is truly the best one for this job?
• Do I need to do this? Is it truly necessary?
• Do I need to do this? Is this the best thing for me to be doing to forward my goals? Or is it simply marking time? Would my energy be better spent pursuing another project?

Examining each of the items on the list with these three criteria can give you an idea of what you can take off.

Gracefully Dumping Projects

When it comes to getting rid of projects, you need to consider who will be impacted if you decide to get rid of or postpone the project. If this is no one, then draw a line through it right now!

If other people are impacted, you will need to move more cautiously. If it is something that requires special talents that you have, but are no longer willing to give, you need to find a replacement. If it just requires a body to do certain tasks, you can resign with warning to those impacted. (Remember, a ball cannot be picked up if it is never dropped!)

The Someday/Maybe List

When I first got involved with Getting Things Done, I was a big fan of the someday/maybe list. It’s purpose is to hold all those things that you aren’t ready to let go of. I liked it because it meant that I didn’t have to get rid of stuff.

It was that not getting rid of anything that caused trouble. My someday/maybe list grew to epic proportions, and when I went looking for things to “activate”, I got lost in the rabbit trails of a list of my own making. I ended up having to purge the list from about 75% of its items. I am very careful now to really commit to doing something before I put it on the list.

If you want to have a someday/maybe list, by all means, go ahead. But don’t leave it to grow unattended. You will need to have some way to clean it out from time to time.

Do you have any special way to thin down your project list? Share below.

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As part of taking stock of where you are, you need to consider what is not only on your schedule, but what is on your project list. By having an accurate idea of what is outstanding for you, you can decide what to get rid of, what to complete quickly, and what to defer.

First of all, it’s not your fault things are out of control

One of the things I find funny about most personal management systems is the assumption that you make a conscious effort to decide if you will take on a project. From my experience, I don’t see that as the case.

Example: your son comes home from school and announces that he has been selected to play the lead in the class play, which will include a costume of a radish. It is now your project to get that radish costume, even though that isn’t something you might have chosen to put on your list.

Example: at work, you are asked your opinion about the holiday party, and at your boss’s request you find yourself on a committee of people working to plan more events to boost morale. Again, not something you consciously chose, but something that was thrust upon you.

Sometimes projects end up on our lists by simple choices. Today, I bought chickpeas and eggs with the thought that I would make hummus and hard-boiled eggs to give us some healthy protein for snacks and lunches. By putting those two items in my grocery cart, I landed two more projects on my plate.

You Might Not Be Aware Of Your Full List

With all of the above examples, you might not be aware of the extent of your projects. These are things that are requiring your attention and effort, but they might not end up on a list anywhere, because you may not have really thought through the effort.

It’s important to do a periodic sweep to make sure that all these things are captured into one place so that you can see what is expected of you.

Open Loops and the RAM Dump

David Allen calls these outstanding projects open loops. He suggests going through and reviewing them once a week. That’s fine if you already know what all your open loops are. But what if you don’t?

This is where the RAM Dump comes in. (It doesn’t hurt that it fits in with the life reboot theme, either!) I personally use a list from Kathy Paauw, found here. This list helps me track down things that I might not have realized are nagging at me, pulling my attention. I try to do this list quarterly.

The Mini-RAM Dump

The big RAM dump list is a great tool, but it is big. On a weekly basis, I conduct my own mini-version of the RAM dump, which I use to remind me of just the sort of tasks I gave above. It contains items like:

• For each of my daughter’s activities, is there anything expected of me in the next week? Month?
• For Girl Scouts, is there anything coming up in the next two months I need to prepare for? What are the upcoming deadlines? (you can insert any organization in there)
• In my kitchen, is there anything I need to attend to? Food to be frozen? Dishes not on the menu plan that need to be prepared?
• In my clothing, is there anything that needs special cleaning? Hand washing? Dry cleaning?
• Do I have enough cleaning supplies on hand? How about toiletries? Paper products?

You get the idea. These questions bring my focus onto things that are “everyday” but when not done can pose a big inconvenience.

How do you capture outstanding projects for the big and little stuff? Share below.

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As part of the life reboot process, I have to figure out a target for where I am going. Monday I went through what I want more of. Today I need to look at the flip side of this: deciding what needs to be eliminated from my life.

Why Do This?

Looking at what we want less of in our lives is a basis for eliminating things that are impeding our progress, growth and happiness. They may center in us, in which case we can work to change ourselves. They may center in others, in which case we can change how we react to those others. They may center in our circumstances, which we can then change or improve.

Deciding What You Don’t Want

Much as I did for the list of things I want more of, I sat down and wrote things I want less of for five minutes. As with the things I want more of, some of the things on this list surprised me.

Things I Want Less Of In 2012

• Needless conflict
• Social media
• Time wasters
• Reading junk
• Thrash
• Frantic busy-ness
• Responsibility
• Tasks put upon me
• Doing things because no one else will
• Sugar
• Impatience
• Irritation
• Rush
• Uncertainty
• Lack of confidence
• Procrastination

These were just some of the things I came up with.

Getting Rid of the Negative

Unlike being more aware to get the positive things into my life, getting rid of things requires a different tactic.

For those things that are habits, such as procrastination, social media, and time wasters, I must replace those habits with positive ones. I can replace them with pauses to plan, create and think.

For the interactions with others, I can be aware of my own state of mind, and take appropriate action. For me, impatience goes to irritation and then to needless conflict if I am hungry, stressed or tired. I can make sure that I am aware of underlying conditions and deal with those.

For the tasks put upon me and doing things because no one else will, I need to either say “no” up front, or let them drop.

What are things you want less of in your life in 2012? How can you bring them about? Share below.

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As part of the life reboot process, I have to figure out a target for where I am going. Sometimes it is as simple as asking what I want more of in my life.

Deciding What You Want

I found that the best way to do this was to sit down and write everything that came into my head for 5 minutes. Some of the answers surprised me.

What I Want More Of in 2012

• Pauses
• Sleep
• Joy
• Time to think
• Time to plan
• Time to create
• Nature
• Prosperity
• Gratitude
• Music
• Sunshine
• Nutritious food
• Social
• Smiles
• Cuddles with fur-beasts

The list is not the full list of what I came up with, but some of the items surprised me. Gratitude? Sleep? I hadn’t thought I was short on either, but they popped into my head.

Figuring Out How To Get This Stuff

The next task is to look at ways on how I can bring these things into my life. Nothing on my list is outside the realm of possibility; I didn’t ask for the moon.

Some of them are easy: bringing more music into my life means that I need to work it in. There are lots of times at work when I find myself distracted by the b*tching discussions of my co-workers floating over the wall. Plugging into music can eliminate that distraction and bring more music into my life.

Some things will need me to rearrange my schedule. It’s not that I don’t have time to sleep, plan, think or create, but that they are not the first things on my list. I find myself conscious of too much time wasted on things that could be better put to use.

Some things are best brought about my a shift in consciousness. If I am aware of a desire to smile, eat nutritious food, and look for things to be grateful for, I will do them. If left to my current frantic state of unawareness, I might not.

What are things you want more of in your life in 2012? How can you bring them about? Share below.

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Once I looked at my evenings, the next logical step for figuring out how I want to restructure my life is to look at my weekends. They are my largest chunk of free time, yet I have spent many weekends playing catch up, or doing things that don’t move me toward where I want to be.

My Ideal Weekend

• Relaxing. I want to spend time not rushing hither and yon.
• Limited blogging. I want to only deal with blog business (comments, updates, orders) on Saturdays.
• Tech free Sundays. I want to not connect to the internet at all on Sundays. Posibly not the computer, but this may waver depending on writing needs.
• One hour of housework only. At most I want to spend an hour on housework. No more days spent cleaning and running errands.
• Game or movie night. I want to have Saturday night to spend watching movies with my family, or playing board games.

It’s a simple list, but it represents profound changes for me. What would your ideal weekend look like? Write it down, and share below.

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As I look at re-balancing and rebooting my life, one of the first questions I asked myself was “what do I want my evenings to look like?” By figuring out where I want to go, I can plan a route to get there.

My Ideal Evenings

I’m talking weeknights here, so most of my evenings would start after the family dinner and cleanup.

Time To Craft

I enjoy working with my hands, and I have projects languishing because I don’t have (or take) the time to work on them. I want to be able to have the time to sit down and knit, or cross-stitch, or quilt, or scrapbook.

Time To Read

Although I have made headway since my no-new-books policy, I still have many books I need to read. I know myself – if I try to read non-fiction right before bed I will either not retain the ideas, or I will go to sleep. I want time during awake hours to read.

Time To Take A Course

I’ve signed up for quite a few e-courses in the past few years. I have completed few. I want to have some time to take the courses, or read the ebooks so that I can grow, and I can grow my blog.

Time To Spend With Family

With my daughter in school, the only time I get to see her is in the evenings. I want time to spend with her so that we can build a strong relationship. This has to be quality time together, though, not just time spent in the same room.

Time To Write

I manage to write every November, but it fades after the month is done. I want to spend a bit of time every evening writing my book, with the hopes that I will get it put into paperback form by June.

Evening Activities

Right now I have two evening activities: choir and Girl Scouts. I thought long about if I wanted to give up either of these activities in order to make more room for the ones I want. The answer is “maybe” for choir (although there are other circumstances playing into that one) and “no” for Girl Scouts.

Is it still possible to fit my ideal evenings around my activities? I think so.

What would your ideal evening look like? Take some time and write it down, and share below.

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When you’re looking at a life that seems out of balance, and you know that you need to make changes, the toughest part can be knowing where to start.

Start With Questions

For me, the best place was to assess where I currently am, before deciding where I am going. So I wrote down some questions and gave myself some time to think about them and answer them.

• How do you feel right now?
• How do you want to feel after the reboot?
• What do you want your days to look like?
• What do you want your evenings to look like?
• What do you want your weekends to look like?
• How do you want your relationships to work?
• Where do you spend the most time?
• Are you satisfied with how you are spending your time?
• What do you want more of in your life?
• What do you want less of in your life?
• Are there areas of your life you are neglecting?
• Are there areas of your life your are hyper-focusing on?
• Are you carrying resentments because of your activities?
• How do you feel about your activities in the past year?
• What are you proud of in the past year?
• What did you let go of in the last year?
• In an ideal world, where would you be in one year?

There are more questions, and we will be looking at these further in future articles as we talk about rebooting life.

Did you know you can get Twitter and Facebook updates from this blog? For Twitter, look for @SmplProdBlog. On Facebook it’s Facebook.com/SimpleProductivity. You can also find me at Google+ as lj@simpleproductivityblog.com.

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This seems to be a mantra in my life lately. I’m having to reconsider all sorts of things that I am putting energy into that maybe I should have left alone. So far it has earned me a public chastisement, a bunch of defensive rhetoric and a reputation for being a troublemaker.

I care about these issues. But maybe I shouldn’t. I find myself wondering how important these issues really are.

I ask myself, will this be an issue in 30 days? Yes, unfortunately. If things stay on course, will it affect me and my family? Yes. Is it sucking my energy? Absolutely. Is it worth the attack on my centeredness? No.

It is important. But there comes a time to distance myself from toxic energy and organization blunderings and choose to be happy. It no longer matters that I still believe, inuterrably, that I am right. I have to get some distance so that I can recover my equanimity.

So if you are facing something where you are going up against a wall, ask yourself How Important Is It? Is it worth the cost to yourself?

Did you know you can get Twitter and Facebook updates from this blog? For Twitter, look for @SmplProdBlog. On Facebook it’s Facebook.com/SimpleProductivity. You can also find me at Google+ as lj@simpleproductivityblog.com.

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It’s amazing to me that people are still trying to balance their lives. It’s as if they see life as slices of a time pie that can be equally shared amongst a hungry crowd.

The truth is that life balance, thought of in this way, is unobtainable. Slicing our lives into equal portions will give some areas of our lives artificial importance, and under-value others. Can you imagine placing scrubbing dirty pots on the same level as spending time with your children?

What Balance Isn’t

Life balance isn’t a matter of keeping everything rigidly in line.

It isn’t about paying equal attention to every area of your life.

It isn’t about unnatural demands and contortions.

What Balance Is

Life balance is about flexibility.

It’s about realizing that sometimes some areas of your life will sometimes take more time and effort than others.

It’s about priorities, and knowing what is most important to you.

Getting Balance In Your Life

Getting life into balance isn’t hard…in theory. But it does require some effort.

Recently I decided I needed to re-balance things. I felt like I was spending too much time doing things that didn’t have a large enough return on investment, and that probably didn’t need to be done. I felt that not only was I doing things that didn’t matter, but doing it at the cost of my relationships with my daughter and husband.

Realizing It Might Not Always Be Possible

Sometimes life interferes. While I try not to work more than my normally scheduled hours, sometimes it is necessary. Sometimes there are other projects that come up. I have to be flexible and work these things in — and not get bent out of shape because my ideas of “balance” have been disrupted.

Start Small

The first thing with re-balancing is to know it’s not all going to change overnight. Like any other habit, trying to change too much at once is a recipe for sure failure. So pick something to do less of, and substitute something to do more of.

For instance, I chose to spend every weeknight evening between dinner and bedtime with my daughter, doing crafts, or reading, or playing a game. This means I had to give up what I was doing at that time – usually checking email, surfing, cleaning or writing.

This means that the non-essential activities (email, surfing) need to be dropped, and the more important of the four (cleaning, writing) moved to another time. It also means I need to be more efficient when I am doing those activities so that I preserve other times I use to further my writing and business.

By taking small steps and working in a direction to re-balance my life, I can move to a place where my priorities are reflected in my activities.

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