Tag Archives: how to grow

Day 2945 – How To Make Big Improvements – Track Every Minute Of Your Day

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As I admitted two weeks ago, I spent five hours playing video games in one day. It was painful to admit this to Bret, to myself, and to my readers. Boy howdy, it was a very humbling day. Since then, I have tracked my time on most weekdays. The only exception is when I work out of the home office. I haven’t tracked my time on the weekends, but I think I’m going to start. It is astounding how much my productivity, drive, and accomplishments take a dive on the weekends. I don’t want to necessarily work all weekend. In some respects, I don’t want to work at all. But I can be more purposeful in how I spend my time, and that’s what tracking my time has done for me – made me purposeful.

So how can you track your time? There are many ways to track time out there, but for me, I’m all about pen to paper, and using Excel to give me percentages and totals.

My best days start with preparation the night before.

Evening routine:
– clean all of the dishes
– prep the coffee for the morning
– fill all of the water bottles
– prep my doTERRA diffuser
– write out my to do list for the next day
– pick out the sermon to listen to
– copy my time spent sheet from today into a new sheet, rename it, and remove today’s time

I’m not all there for the first 15-20 minutes in the morning. If I have to sit down and figure out what to do, what to listen to, make the coffee, etc, it will not be the best use of my time.

Creating my to do list:
– I open all of my different Asana accounts (I’m only at three, not that crazy….yet)
– I move all my tasks around based on what type of day I’ll have – am I working at home or out of the office?
– I’m currently writing out my to do list on a small legal pad. This has helped me keep my expectations grounded. I mean, really, I’m not going to finish ALL of my tasks on a large legal pad, it’s too optimistic.
– I list my daily must dos first
– If there are especially important tasks, I add a star
– Once I finish my list and pack up my notes, I sometimes take the advice of Deep Work* and say something like “you are done work for the day.” It helps to tell my brain – “brain, you’re not working anymore, you are free to relax and do other things right now.”

Because I’ve done all the preparation the day before, it’s so easy to jump into my day. I already know what I’m going to do first, second, third, and beyond. My workspace is clean, my air will smell pretty (thanks diffuser!), and my coffee will be ready.

I use legal pads to keep track of my time; different colors for different clients and purposes. Over the last two weeks, I’ve split a few of the categories I’m tracking. Before, I had the following categories:
– On Jen Stuff
– On Fun
– On Home
– On Bret
– On each client

But this didn’t give me a robust picture at all.

Here are my current categories:
– Building Business – this includes blogging, reading other blogs, posting in my Facebook group, posting on social media, etc.
– Writing
– Workout/meditation/yoga
– Devos/journaling
– Self-Care
– Relax
– Organizing
– Education
– Fiction reading
– on fun – games
– social
– on home
– Bret work
– Bret growth
– each of my clients

I’ve set up a spreadsheet that totals my time and percentages and I update it throughout the day. Yesterday, I started the day with a goal of hours and percentages to hit in different categories. It was great to actually hit those goals.

Here’s a peek at my legal pads. Please excuse the handwriting. 😀

Do you track your time? Has it helped you or hindered you? Let me know in the comments below.

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Day 2944 – How I Wrote A Book In Six Months – or – Eat The Elephant One Bite At A Time

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I’m not one to lie to you or to give a pretty picture of my life. I’ve put myself out there in pretty much all the ways that you can. There’s so much on the internet about how people don’t show the hard and gritty side of life. The hustle, basically. I hope that I give you my honest life. So in that vein, a few days ago, I was not doing well at all. I was feeling completely overwhelmed. I felt like I was never going to complete my to do list. I felt like a failure at so many things in my life.

Thankfully, I didn’t stay there long. I was reminded that a completed to do list will never happen. There are so many more important things to worry about than an incomplete to do list. I have skills to do the things I need to do. But my biggest realization over the last few days is that big things happen when you’re faithful with the small and the daily. There are certain things I do every day, and almost every day, and they have built up to big accomplishments. I think my biggest accomplishment is this blog. I’ve blogged every day since April of 2011. There were a few days in the beginning that I missed, and there are a few posts that have been removed, but I have shown up every day. Even though it’s a different type, I am writing every day. I have written just shy of 2,300 posts. I have blogged for 78% of my marriage. I didn’t realize these numbers until right now, but I am amazed at them. I have severely underestimated the power of small steps.

I’m grateful for a book I randomly found at the library Dream Big, Think Small by Jeff Manion (This is an affiliate link to Amazon. This means I will get a small percentage if you buy this book or something else. I only share affiliate links to things I have used. This book changed my life and I highly recommend it). It can be read cover to cover quickly, but he recommends reading a chapter a day. I’m taking this route. I keep the book with with my bible and journal as a reminder to read the chapter after my devotions. It has been such an encouragement. It has made me want to think of more ways to add small routines into my daily life.

So how did I write a book* in six months? I worked on it slowly, as much as I could in a day. I didn’t work on it every day, but each small step, each short editing/writing session took me another step closer. Today marks three months on my alcoholism memoir. I’m not sure how much longer it will take to finish, as it’s a whole other type of project. It reminds me of the process of writing my first book* – one where it’s about growing and changing me in the process. It’s really starting to take shape, I’m in the “taking all the ramblings and putting them in a sensible order” stage.

Don’t underestimate the power of taking one bite of your elephant every day. And don’t think writing only 10-15 minutes a day won’t add up to your book one day.

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* Amazon Affiliate link
Did you like what you read? Here’s some ways you can support us and this blog!
Join our Facebook group, Planning an Epic Road Trip on Any Budget
Join the Journey With The G’s email list (bonus – you get my Epic Road Trip Budget spreadsheet)
Buy my book, Planning an Epic Road Trip on any Budget
Buy my book, Trusting God With 2 Cents: 22 Days To Becoming A Successful Christian Business Owner.
Shop on Amazon (no additional cost to you, this gives us a percentage of what you order).
Check out our resources page.
Subscribe to our YouTube Channel