How do you spend your time, dear reader? I know I am not always the best steward when it comes to managing my time. However, I have made strides in the area of time management since reading 168 Hours: You Have More Time Than You Think by Laura Vanderkam. While we all have the same 168 hours a week, we spend those hours differently. Keeping a time log of how you spend your 168 hours is a worthwhile endeavor when trying to accomplish goals. January is the perfect month to keep a time log and track exactly how you are spending your 168 hours.
Therefore, I joined Laura Vanderkam’s annual “Time Tracking Challenge” which will start on Monday 10 January. She will send out an email on Sunday with details about the challenge. After I log how I spent my 168 hours for the week, I will analyze my time log to see exactly how much time I have left (after work, sleep, and family commitments have been deducted) to work on my aims for 2022. I actually enjoy tracking my time and will track it periodically throughout the year, especially when I feel overwhelmed or feel like I am not making any progress with my goals for the year.
In addition to tracking my time next week, I am also participating in Gretchen Rubin’s free New Year’s Resolution Challenge which she announced on her podcast this week. The challenge starts on Sunday, 09 January, and for 7 days, Gretchen will text you 7 tips “for making (and keeping) effective resolutions.” I have done SMS challenges with Gretchen before, and I enjoy them.
I am off to a great start with accomplishing the items on my 22 for 2022 list. Time-tracking is the first item on my list. My time log will help me accomplish the second item on my list, which is to tweak my morning routine. I am excited about the upcoming week and embracing CHANGE. Happiness!
“It’s how we spend our time here and now, that really matters. If you are fed up with the way you have come to interact with time, change it.” ~ Marcia Wieder
Note: Photo at the top is by Giallo on Pexels.com.
The Kat Files 
These seem great exploratory tools. I’ll have a go at the first one – and find out, eeeek, how much time I waste!
It will be interesting to see how many discretionary hours you have left over after analyzing your week (after work, sleep, your course, etc.). Last year, I think I had 19-20 hours a week to play with to reach goals. I did well the first quarter of 2021; then COVID restrictions relaxed, and I was out and about more. Also, doing more collabs with Kelsi took more time. This year, I only work outside my home Monday through Thursday. So that gives me a chunk of time, but I do not want to use my day strictly on household chores, but on creative work. We’ll see!
We only do housework when we know people are coming round! Our house was a mess during the lockdowns!!
LOL. Ah, so you two have more time for play. By the way, I mailed your “happy” on Friday, 01/14. I have no idea when it will arrive, but it has been sent to you. I pray it makes it.
Whoop! How exciting!!
One of these days I am going to try and track my time. I bet my mind would be blown by either how much time I waste or maybe how much time I use to work on content, haha! Great post, Kat!
It will be eye-opening. I am still working on my data. I’ve been reading so much lately that I haven’t taken the TIME to add it up. 🤣