Time inventory: what are you doing with your time, right now?

Having set four goals for myself in the areas I deem important it became apparent that I would have to do some things differently with my time.

Goals and behavior.

As you remember from my post on changing Self-Identity every goal must be translated into behavior. The more complex the goal the more behaviors will be involved. That’s where The Plans come in. The Plans are the steps, literally the behaviors, you must take to achieve your goals.

So I set four goals, broke those goals into behaviors, which became some rudimentary plans, and concluded that I would have to make time for those new behaviors.

For example, my goal to earn a passive gross monthly income of at least $3000 involves learning internet marketing techniques (this is the avenue of passive income I have decided to explore first). I’ve become a member of an online internet marketing community that offers instruction for a monthly fee. I needed to make time to learn and apply the lessons.

New results come from new actions.

Here is a very important distinction to grasp: Any time you have decided to achieve a goal you have decided to do what it takes to achieve it. This is the difference between a Goal and a Dream. A Goal requires behavior. You must do new things to achieve new results.

So there are things that you are not doing now that you must make time to do. If you are not willing to do anything different than you only have a Dream. I’m not laying a guilt trip on you, don’t lay one on yourself. Just be honest. Dream or Goal? If it’s a Goal let’s get to making the time available to get it done.

Take a time inventory.

Before I could make the time for the new behaviors I needed to know what I currently spend my time doing. I took a time inventory of my life.

Since I like routine it wasn’t difficult to sit down and take inventory without having to actually keep a time log for a week. If your days are a little more haphazard you may need to take a week of your life and journal your activities. Put a scrap of paper in your pocket, or use your pocket notebook that you use for The List, and make a note of the activity you are engaged in and the time every day for a week.

Many activities are fairly routine for most people. Things like work hours, when groceries are bought, relaxation time in front of the TV, toiletry habits, movie night, etc. There is no need to make a big deal out of the odd trip out of town or the day you got a flat tire on the way to work. What is important are the typical activities, what your normal days look like.

Time is like money…but not exactly.

If you’ve ever taken your financial inventory, or net worth, there is a parallel – you’re getting a sense of where you are. Count what you have in the plus column (e.g. cash, investments), count what you have in the minus column (e.g. debt, loans), and come up with your financial picture. If the picture is bleak you have the option to increase your income, the cash flowing into the plus column.

The thing about time is it’s finite. You can’t create more time. Everyone has the exact same number of hours and minutes in their day with which to create their lives. It boils down to shifting time slated for Activity A and choosing instead to do Activity B. That’s all there is to it. Simple, but not always easy.

Step one in time/activity mastery.

The first step is to figure out what you are doing with your time right now. Be honest. There is no need to share this information with anyone. If you are wasting spending time in front of the TV four hours every night make a note of it.

Next week we’ll be looking at what I did to make better use of my time by using the information gathered in my time inventory.