Time For A Checkup
Tracking your time can pay huge dividends
Last week, I went in for my semiannual dental cleaning and checkup. I appreciate how far the comfort of dental care has come. My dentist's office has televisions you can watch while getting your teeth cleaned, and if you ask, they will turn on the massage chair. But the real reason I go is not to watch TV, get a massage, or get a little time off. The real reason I go is to see how I'm doing with my dental health and to address any problems or potential future problems. Really, I want to avoid pain and loss!
In the same way we get dental and doctor checkups, it would be wise to do a Time Checkup.
I've written before about creating a time budget (or an ideal week as it is sometimes called), which could be likened to our routine dental care - brushing, flossing, and mouth rinse. We're practicing good "time hygiene." Wisely applying ourselves so we don't experience potential pain and loss in our lives and ministries.
Think about a Time Checkup like a dental checkup. It's time to see how we're really doing with our "time hygiene." Are we doing a good job abiding by our time budget?
A good hygienist or dentist will point out areas where we need to brush more, floss more, or pay more attention. Mine will pull out a little camera and even show me! They make notes of areas to watch and then send me home with a game plan and some new tools—a toothbrush, toothpaste, and floss.
And this process happens every six months. This reality, by the way, helps me to keep brushing, flossing, and rinsing!
A Time Checkup can do the same in our lives. Simply put, a time checkup is a period of a week or two during which we track how we use our time. And just like the dentist, we give ourselves the honest truth! We write down what we did in each time block. And in the end, we have our results.
Now, I've got to admit going to the dentist is not my favorite activity, and neither is time tracking. But both are highly beneficial.
Here are some tips to get you started with your own time checkup:
Be brutally honest. If you aren't honest, you might as well not do it. Remember, this is just for your eyes, anyway.
Choose a week or two that are the most "normal" for you.
Keep the tracker with you in your pocket or daily planner.
Record as you go. It's easy to forget what we did.
Do a time checkup every quarter, or at least every six months. Put it on your calendar to remind you.
Be prepared to experience various emotions once you look at the results.
Take what you learn and make adjustments, corrections, and changes to your life and schedule (and ideal week) as needed.
I've prepared two different time trackers for you. One is hourly blocks, and the other is more detailed, with blocks for every half hour. Please choose which one works best for you.
That's it for now, but could you please put the start date for your Time Checkup on your calendar?
And while you're at it, do you have your next dentist and doctor's appointments on there, too?