Hello everyone, this is Helen Huang @ Organizing, based in Beijing, China. In order to better learn and practice the YiXiaoNeng Time Management System, after finished publishing 100 Chinese articles, I decided to continue writing and publishing a daily English article in another 100 days based on the "YeWuBin Time Management 100 Episodes" audio program. Today is the 133rd day.
Today's topic is: Do You Know Where Your Time Goes?
Do you know where your time goes? Have you ever asked where your time goes? Most of us live each day unaware of the time we spend and where it goes. How can we use our time more efficiently and meaningfully? Today I want to share an important concept with you. If you don't record it, it didn't happen.
In the previous lectures, we have talked about Peter Drucker, the Father of Management. Drucker says that we need to record and analyze time, so that we can better arrange how we spend that time. Drucker places great importance on keeping a record of how we spend our time each day.
So how should we record our time? Actually, Drucker doesn't specify how to do this so much. However, I read another book called “The Strange Life: A Biography of Soviet Entomologist Alexandrovich Lyubishchev." Lyubishchev developed the habit of recording any activity that took at least 5 minutes to complete.
Although Lyubishchev didn't complete anyone amazing achievement in his life, he completed an extraordinary number of things in his lifetime. Lyubishchev studied insects all his life, and wrote more than 70 books, which, in itself, is extraordinary. He was able to accomplish all of this by tracking and documenting his time.
What are the advantages of recording how your time spent? Over the past 4 years, I have recorded more than 99% of the time I spend each month. Of course, compared with Lyubishchev, who died in 1972, it is much more convenient for us to record our time using modern technology. Lyubishchev recorded with paper and pen, while we can use mobile phone apps to document our activities. I recommend a simple and very effective phone app called “aTimeLogger”. Currently this software has been updated to the second version.
You can use this app to track your sleep, exercise, and eating, as well as non-output activities, such as: transportation, time with family, use of WeChat, web browsing...etc. aTimeLogger can keep track of how long and where our time is spent each day.
You may be wondering: how much time each day is spent recording our time? Because I have used the app for so long, I am very good at it and only need 10 seconds per day to record my time. If you forget to record your activity when you are performing it, that's ok. You can enter the information or modify an existing recording if you forget during your activity.
Sometimes I note when I start an activity then forget to record when I finished, but because I have a habit to review my time log in the morning and at night, I can adjust the time record at night. It doesn't take very long to do this.
The value of doing this each day is enormous!
If you are not comfortable using or do not have a mobile phone, or you do not use an Apple iphone, and cannot find this software in other systems, then I recommend you use the pen and paper to record your activities for a week. At the end of each day, just record what you did that day and for how long.
I must tell you that Peter Drucker suggests we record these activities as they are happening, instead of at the beginning or end of each day. Try this for one week. Record your activities every day for a week. After a week, analyze where you spend your time.
Many students of our Yixiaoneng class begin to record their time after they finish their classes, and soon they find that most of their time has been wasted. Here is the eye-opening revelation: most who analyze their time find that they can delegate 80% of the things they do to others or to automation. Only 20% of what you do really needs to be performed personally by yourself. It is from these observations that Drucker began to champion the 80-20 Pareto principle.
So, are you willing to start record your own time? Try it for a week! I am sure you will begin to see just how valuable it is!
That's all for the sharing today. Thank you being with me together today. Have a wonderful day!
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