Time Audit

How much time do you spend on things in your life? Work, exercise, housework, watching TV, scrolling on social media? Does your time spent reflect what’s important to you? The things you spend your time on are actually the things that you prioritise, for good or bad. 

I often wonder to myself, “where has the time gone?” Or think, “I had so much to do today and I did nothing”. I decided to have a good look at exactly what I was spending my time on, so last week I did a little experiment. A time audit. For a couple of days I kept track of how much time I spent doing various things throughout my day. I realised that I spent a lot of my precious time being distracted by things that weren’t that important. ‘Pottering’ around the house (whatever that is), wandering around shops, scrolling on social media, watching Netflix. Not only did I waste time, I felt stressed and guilty because I didn’t do the things that I really wanted to get done. 

I realised that in order to focus more on what’s important, I needed to figure out what that was. For example, I would say my health is important, but that has not been reflected in my time allocation. I have been in pain for over 6 months because I have herniated disc in my back. I saw my physiotherapist four months ago and he sent me an email with some exercises to do. I have not done them. Until this week. I’m trying to remind myself each morning to not get distracted and focus on what’s important. 

Time is our most precious resource. 

And it’s a finite one.