Time is Super Scarce
Life’s short. Particularly when there’s so many things to do. And even more so when you’re a parent!
Juggling different commitments, jumping from one thing straight to another, trying to squeeze as much as possible from life. I feel I don’t have the time to do what I want these days, and some important areas of my life are falling into the peripheral.
I’m sure I’m not alone.
Time to Make a Change
So, with the same 24 hours that everyone else has each day, I had 3 big questions in mind:
Where was all my time going to?
Where do I actually want to spend my time?
How do I optimise my time each day?
The first question required more than being honest with myself. I needed to hold myself accountable to real, fact-based data. In search of a personal timesheeting tool, I chose to use ATracker Pro app to track my time, every day, right down to the minute.
To personalise, it took some time to configure. I also had to build a habit of tracking each activity I was engaged in. After 6 weeks though, I had enough data to be really insightful.
What I Found and What I’m Focusing On
Among an ocean of realisations, a small snippet of 7 averages, ranked from most to least time spent. Plus what I’m focusing on changing in each area:
Leon: 2.5 hours/day on weekdays and 7.5 hours/day on weekends spent with Leon.
That’s pretty massive, and I want to keep that intact as much as possible. He grows and evolves a little bit every day and I don’t want to miss any of it.
Film / Netflix / Youtube: 1.5 hours/day spent on watching something. I typically do some work while watching something in the background, for what it’s worth!
I want to reduce this to 1 hour/day. Multi-tasking isn’t effective, and I’d be more productive without something playing in the background.
Transit & Waiting: 1 hour/day spent travelling to somewhere or waiting for something. Dead time.
In terms of transit, I think I’ve optimised this as much as possible. I’ve shaved travel to work to 8 minutes one-way and I try to optimise weekend family plans to minimise travel.
In terms of waiting, that’s mostly unavoidable, but I want to use the time better by reading.
Shopping: 20 minutes/day spent on shopping either online or IRL. Argh, my weakness!
Alright, this has got to get stamped out. I want to reduce this to <5 minutes/day by deterring myself. More on the tactics I’m using later.
Gym & Sport: 15 minutes/day spent on keeping my body in shape. Underinvested.
I want to double this to 30 minutes/day. In my weekly routine, I’ve now included 30-minute gym sessions 3 times a week and 2-hour tennis sessions 1-2 times a week.
Reading: 3 minutes/day. Embarrassingly abysmal!
I just want to increase this by any amount. Reading before bed is now part of my pre-sleep routine and a recurring task on my to-do list.
Meditation: 1 minute/day. Severely underinvested.
Like reading, I just want to do a bit more. I’ll start to build the habit with a quick 5-minute “micro” meditation 3 times a week.
One Final Thought
At the micro level, I found this exercise super useful. I feel like I’m using my time with more intent.
But at the macro level, I also want to ensure that the stuff I’m doing day to day - no matter how optimised - builds towards my longer term goals and roadmap.
I’ve created a visual personal roadmap that I revisit weekly to keep myself in check. More on this next time.