Transform Your Day: A Beginner's Guide to Time Audits
A time audit is a process where you track and analyze how you spend your time over a certain period. The goal is to identify areas where you can improve productivity and efficiency by understanding how your time is allocated.
To perform a time audit, you typically:
Record your activities: Write down everything you do in a day, including how much time you spend on each activity.
Categorize activities: Group similar tasks together to see how much time you spend on different types of activities (e.g., work, leisure, chores).
Analyze the data: Look for patterns and identify areas where you might be wasting time or could be more efficient.
Make adjustments: Based on your analysis, make changes to your schedule or habits to better align your time with your goals and priorities.
Time Audit Example
Work From Home Day
5:55 AM - Alarm goes off
6:00 AM - 6:25 AM
Brush teeth
Wash face
Do skincare
Give dogs dental treats
Make coffee
6:25 - 6:35 AM
Drink coffee
Meditate/ journal - whichever is most needed
6:35 - 7:45 AM
Do business related tasks for the day (I typically write these out the night before)
Drafting podcast episode
7:45 - 8:00 AM
Feed dogs
Get dressed for the day
Start dishwasher
Sweep
Collect recycling/ trash
8:00 - 8:45 AM
Quality time with dogs - walk and ball time
8:45 - 9:00 AM
Prepare Breakfast
Give dogs treat balls/ some other form of distractoin
Water plants
9:00 - 10:00 - Start 9-5 job
Prepare task list for day
Time block around meetings
Respond to urgent emails
10:00 - 12:00 PM
Attend morning meetings
Work on task list
12:00 - 12:15 PM
Have lunch
12:15 - 3:15 PM
Shift focus to project list and continue working on time blocks
Review email
Begin to prepare win list for the day - a list of all the things I accomplished! Celebrate all the wins!
3:15 - 4:45 PM
Begin winding down at work
Wrap up any to dos that can be done within an hour time frame
Move any tasks that were not completed to the top of the list for tomorrow
4:45 - 5:00
Send end of day email to manager, or have end of day meeting with manager
5:00 - 6:30
Prepare doggy dinner
Go on long dog walk (typically 3-4 miles)
Have dinner
Clean kitchen
Put away dishes from this morning
6:30 - 9:00 | Switch back to Business
Work on tasks lists that wasn’t completed from this morning
Review what needs to be done for tomorrow
9:00 - 10:30 PM | Wind Down - no more screens
Close laptop
Take shower
Do skincare
Read business book or a fun one
Analysis
Work: 8 hours
Business: 2.6 hours
Meals: 1.1 hours
Leisure: 1.5 hours
Chores: 45 minutes
Personal time (morning routine, reading): 1 hour
Observations
Dog time has to be concentrated before and after work.
Leisure time is well-balanced, but there might be opportunities to reduce social media usage.
Chores are managed efficiently, but additional time could be allocated to more productive activities.
Adjustments
Consider doing more chores throughout the day during 25 minute intervals, using the pomodoro technique.
Limit social media usage to 1 hour and use the extra time for personal development or exercise.
Maintain a consistent schedule to ensure a balance between work, personal business and leisure.
