How do some people find time to do many things in a day while most of us complain about lack of time to even exercise? What differentiates one who gets things done from people who struggle to get anything done?
I was in the latter camp of people who struggle with time management. I was always complaining about not having enough time in a day. Juggling between family, full-time job, and personal interests were hard. What I didn’t know then was that I was spending an unhealthy amount of time on binge reading the news and social media feeds. This reflection came from tracking where I spend my time.
I tried many apps available in the market. But I stopped using them because of the distraction it brings with it. When I pick up the phone to log my time, it’s hard to put it down without peeking into twitter or WhatsApp. We love that quick shot of dopamine. Before I know half an hour of my time evaporates.
Desktop apps work well but only when I am working on the computer. When I am away from my computer, I will have to maintain the logs manually. I decided to go with a pen and paper to make it simple and avoid screen time. I designed a time management system to plan my day, track my time, and to reflect on the day.
You can download my time tracker and daily planner template here
A good time management system will not only track your time, but it should also help you to prioritize important over urgent and avoid procrastination via self-reflection. A good time management system is what differentiates productive people from the rest.
What I learnt tracking my time
- Tracking time made me conscious of where I spend my time.
- I was spending a lot of time in social media and online communities.
- I am able to find chunks of time together to work on important tasks.
- I am able to focus better knowing what to work on and when
- I am making more time for what matters
Let’s look into how my time management system helps with planning my day, tracking time, and reflecting on the activities at the end of the day.
Planning the day
To plan our day effectively, first, we need to block chunks of time. Second, we should prioritize and identify the tasks to work on. Finally, we should schedule each task to avoid procrastination. Let’s look into each one of these in detail.
Time Blocking
Most of us can split our days into different buckets like family, work, personal, and sleep. I plan my day with blocks of time for each of these buckets. In the planned section of my time tracker, I pre-fill which area of my life I will be spending my time on. This helps with knowing how much time I have for what activities. Below is my current schedule.
- 5.30 – 8.00 – Personal time. I workout, meditate, read, and write.
- 8.00 – 9.30 – Family time. I cuddle with kids, do meal prep, cook, and eat breakfast.
- 9.30 – 12.30 & 1.30 – 4.30 – Work time – I do most of the work for my day job during this time.
- 12.30 and to 1.30 is my lunchtime
- 4.30 – 9.30 – Family time again. Playing with kids, going out on a walk, watching TV, cooking dinner, and eating together.
- 9.30 – Sleep. Most days I hit the bed at 9.30. And sleep for 8 hours
Not all days are the same. Some days I go to bed early and someday late. Some days I work late in the evening. But this schedule gives me a general idea of time blocks available for work, family, and personal time.
This schedule has been working well for me for the past three months. Of course, this schedule will not work if I start commuting to work.
If you decide to give my template a try, you will have to adjust the schedule based on your needs. But it is important to know how much time you have for each of your major areas of life. The good news is, this schedule doesn’t change often. Plan it once and tweak as needed.
Prioritize
Every Monday morning, I identify what projects I should focus on during the week. I choose one or two projects and write it down in the “Focus for the Week” section in my tracker. This reinforces my attention on these projects throughout the week.
This also helps with prioritizing tasks for the day. From the list of tasks to tackle (I use GTD as my task management system), I choose three tasks I want to get done during the day and write it in the “Focus for the day” section.
Scheduling
Now that I know how much time I have in the day and what I will be working on, it is important to schedule the task and commit a duration for each task.
In the planned column, I write the name of the tasks in the time slot I am planning to work on this activity. This serves as a reminder on when to work on what activities throughout the day.
Tracking the time
My time tracking sheet is divided into 15-minute intervals. Each 15-minute slot is split into two sections called planned and happened. We saw earlier on what I use the planned section for. In the happened section I write the activities as it happens during the day.
Every time I start a new task/activity, I write down what I am about to do in the time slot I am starting to work on. For example, when I started working out this morning, I wrote “exercise” in the 5.30-time slot. Since I continued the exercise for half an hour, I wrote … in the 5.45-time slot to denote that I continued the previous activity. Then I started reading at 6.00 and I read for an hour. I wrote reading “The Self Driven Child” in the 6.00-time slot and continued until 7. I fill in the details throughout the day.
Reflecting on the logs
At the end of the day, I look at the log to see how my day went. Was I productive? Did the day go according to the plan? What did not work and why? What went well? What activities can be pruned to make time for rest or family time?
I am still struggling to convert these logs into usable data. It takes a long time to feed this information manually into a spreadsheet. But it has its own benefits. I will be able to add metadata like, area, category, and subcategory. I will be able to compare from week to week how I am spending my time. I can create a dashboard. This will stay as an idea for now. It is sitting in my someday projects list.
Tips to make the system work for you
- Always log what you are about to do when you start a new activity. Our brain forgets what we did an hour ago. Track it before not after.
- Track part of the day. Focus on a specific time of the day where you feel you are wasting your time. Track only that portion of the day.
- Have copies printed and handy to avoid printer problems
- Keep the time logs inside a binder and always carry it with you even inside the house. Keeping it handy will remind you to track your time.
Bonus – Journaling & Routine tracker
My time tracking sheet comes with a plus, minus, next journaling section. At the end of the day, I answer these simple question
- Plus – What went well?
- Minus – What did not go well?
- Next – What to do tomorrow?
Also, you can track your routines using the last section of the sheet.
By block time and scheduling tasks, we can beat procrastination and get things done. By tracking time and reflecting at the end of the day, we can prune unhealthy activities to make time for important tasks.
How do you manage your time? Do you use offline tracking or apps to track your time? What did you learn from tracking time?
You can download my time tracker and daily planner template here
One reply on “My Time Management System”
[…] But the first thing is knowing where your time goes. Try keeping a log of your day. Use a day planner and a time tracker to record your day. Analyze your logs after a week. You will be surprised with your findings. So […]