I debated about whether or not I would post on weekends throughout this series, for the first few days, it just didn’t work to post on the weekends. It would have put two extremely important posts on a Saturday and Sunday, and let’s face it, we’d all rather relax. Today, we’re back to the series and talking about time.
Do you ever feel like you were busy all day long, but you don’t really have anything to show at the end of the day? That is the scenario that kept replaying over and over, each night when I fell into bed, much later than acceptable. Exhausted from the day, but still no closer to tackling the laundry, still not caught up on housework, or projects.
And not because I spent the day doing things that full filled some other aspect of my life, like meaningful playtime with my children or quality time with friends. I would literally feel as if I had run from the time my eyes opened, until the time I crawled into bed. Yet, still behind, still guilty about what I was missing, still moving things from today’s to-do list over to tomorrow.
I kept thinking, I do things all day long, I never sit down. Where in the world is my time going? So I divided my day into 15-minute increments. Literally, I set a timer for 15-minutes and I wrote down what I did during that time, over 72 increments. I didn’t plan my day in 15-minute increments, I needed this to be as real and authentic as possible. I just started one random Tuesday morning, and put it all on paper.
It didn’t take me long to realize that while I am busy, by every sense of the word. My busy-ness wasn’t leading to productivity. I was half-way completing a million and one tasks, most of them meaningless in the grand scheme of my life. Once, I really took a look at what was happening during my day, I was able to pinpoint several bad habits that I needed to break. We’ll talk more about my day tomorrow.
Right now, I have a printable version of the 15-Minute exercise, so print it today and fill it in throughout the day. Even if you can’t keep up with it all day (the more, the better), at least try for some part of the day so tomorrow makes more sense.
Here are a few things I want you to remember:
No guilt: Throughout this entire process, I never allowed myself to feel guilty about what I was finding out about myself. Instead, I thought about the changes this was going to bring to my life. I remember writing in one of my 15-minute spaces, scrolling through Instagram, and wanting to just throw it away. But, it took me writing those things on paper, evaluating things, digging deeper, to make real progress.
No getting stuck: No regretting the things you are doing, no trying to avoid things you would normally do to make the day look a little better. We’re better off writing things down, and making forward progress from that moment forward. If we don’t face these things, we’ll continue to be stuck in the cycle.
Face the music: Throw the excuses out the window. I know we live different lives, and our days look different. I know what works for me, might not work for someone else. It’s simple to make excuses, it’s our natural reaction to things we don’t want to face, but change requires us to face these things head on. Unfiltered. Raw.
Let’s move forward!
You can download the link below and we’ll chat more about the importance of this little exercise tomorrow.
Give it a shot here: 15minuteday
Yes to all of this!!! I wrote down the lack of completion on the day one worksheet!