Where does your time go?

A friend of mine took part in a “time management for upcoming parents” course. She and her husband had to visually show how they currently spend their 24 hours per day, and then try to fit in 8 hours of babycare. The result surprised them, and turned out to be a great conversation starter.

You can do this yourself as well. A quick time analysis can give you more insight into what you currently (explicitly or implicitly) prioritize in your life. So you can check whether your time allocation is in line with your true priorities.

You can go crafty with the instructions below, or just conveniently open a PowerPoint. I'm curious to hear what you get out of this exercise!

Step 1: Draw a big pie chart (how fun!), and divide it into categories. See which categories make sense to you.
For example, the image below is based on these categories:

·      Sleep

·      Work (actual work time, commuting, thinking about your next workday, etc)

·      Basic self care (washing, getting dressed, using the restroom, etc)

·      Household (cooking, doing groceries, laundry, etc)

·      Caring for others (kids, parents, etc)

·      Social activities (family, partner, friends)

·      Hobbies and interests (sports, etc)   

·      Screentime (tv, phone, etc)

Step 2: Get 24 small items that each represent one hour. And start dividing these “hours” to the corresponding categories. Do things add up? (tip: check your screentime on your phone!).

Step 3: Do you like what you see? Reflect on how this time allocation matches your true priorities. Are there things you would like to spend more/less time on?

Step 4: Which (manageable and realistic) changes can you make? And how will you make these happen?