Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning, This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's tip is to consider what you would like to see in a time log for the coming week. When you know how you hope to have spent your time, you are more likely to actually do the things you want to have done. Longtime listeners know that I often host a time tracking challenge in January. This year is no exception. Thousands of us will track our time together for a
week from January twelfth to January nineteenth. If you would like to sign up, just go to Laura vandercam dot com and enter your email address to get a time log and daily motivational emails from me. Knowing where the time goes can help us spend time better. Now, if you do the time tracking challenge, I imagine you would want to figure out how to make the most of
the opportunity. One of the biggest benefits is accountability. When you know you're going to write down how you spend your time, you may be more likely to make choices with your time that you are proud of. But this doesn't even have to be an in the moment, good versus bad angel or devil kind of thing? Do I want to read? Or do I want a doom scroll for the next hour? What do I want to write
on my log? I think that, But before you even start tracking, you can ask what you would like to see on your time log at the end of the week. By asking what you would like to see, you can make plans and choices that increase the amount of time
spent on those things. So, for instance, if you would like to know that you spent some time connecting with your partner, you might propose that the two of you bundle up and go for an evening walk on Tuesday when you are both home, instead of just collapsing in front of the TV. If you want to spend more of your work hours investing in your relationships with colleagues, you might reach out to a few about grabbing lunch or coffee over the next week. Of course, these intentions
might also then inform your choices during the week. If you know you want to see connection with your colleagues and somebody suggests happy hour, you know that you would be well served by arranging your life to make it happen. You reach out to your spouse to see if they can cover daycare pickup and you offered to do it on another night to make up for it. Perhaps knowing what you'd like to see on your time log will
even help you get creative. If a friend wants to get together on Saturday morning and you are planning to get groceries, then maybe you will try grocery delivery for the first time, or you'll suggest your friend go grocery shopping with you, call it a shop and schmooze. Either way, knowing what you wanted to have in your log can
help ensure you get it there. I know lots of people want to spend less time on things they don't want to do, and I get that keeping track of your time next week or any week might help you see some possibilities for being more efficient. But just as important, we should ask what we want to spend more time doing. We should ask what we want to see reflected in our time, because that empowers us to plan these things in or to make choices that increase these activities in
the moment. In fact, even if you don't track your time, it can be helpful to ask yourself a version of this question, what do I want to have done this week or what experiences would I be happy to look back on today. When you involve your remembering self in making decisions about how to spend your time, you are more likely to spend your time in ways your remembering self will be happy with. I would love to hear how you would like to say you have spent your time.
You can email me at Laura at Laura vandercam dot com. In the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for listening, and here's to making the most of our time. Thanks for listening to Before Breakfast. If you've got questions, ideas, or feedback, you can reach me at Laura at Laura vandercam dot com. Before Breakfast is a production of iHeartMedia. For more podcasts from iHeartMedia, please visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.