Take a moment, right now, and write down everything you can remember that you have done so far today. Be as precise as you possibly can. When finished, identify which tasks were directly related to achieving your goals and priorities and which were completed to fill another person’s agenda.

Time is a non-renewable resource; once you give it away, you can never get it back. Unfortunately, many people “lose” time from things like lack of planning, poor organization skills or a fear of disappointing others. Having an awareness of where your time is being spent will help you to reclaim time you might be losing. Here are some tips for ensuring you are making the most of the time you have.

  1. Plan to organize. Different tasks need different tools. Know what you need and where to find it. For example, if you are attending a meeting, do you know where to find any previous notes, the meeting agenda or other materials you need to make the meeting effective?
  2. Limit task switching. Technology has improved our lives in many ways, but it has also created a culture of constant connectivity and distraction. Multi-tasking causes us to lose momentum. A task that should take 20 minutes takes an hour when we are distracted by notifications from our email or social media. Turn off notifications, move your phone out of sight and only move on when you have completed the task at hand.
  3. Triage your to-do list by identifying the importance and urgency of each task. Know what you need to complete first and what can wait. Sort your to-do list like patients in a hospital — who needs immediate care and who can wait a little bit longer to be seen?

You can’t get time back if you don’t know where you are spending it. Spend one week tracking where your time is going. Every minute counts, so even if you spend only five minutes on something, write it down. Categorize each task into buckets such as family, exercise, work, social, chores, etc. At the end of the week, identify what changes you could make to give yourself more time for reaching your goals.

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