by Laura Vanderkam is about time management, how we use our hours each week, and how to find time to "have it all".
The best part for the type-A, spreadsheet loving me was the time log. It's in the book (or on her website) and you record what you are doing each hour (or half hour), every day for one week. At the end you can look back at your 168 hours and see where you actually spent your time.
My time log turned up the following:
Sleep: 59 hours
Kids: 29
Husband: 6.5
Shower/Getting ready: 3
Exercise: 4.5
Reading: 14
TV: 4.5
Internet: 2.5
Friends: 8
Family: 6
Religious: 3
Volunteer: 2.5
Food: 13 (includes meal planning, shopping, cooking, cleaning)
Nursing: 23
Total: 178.5
There are more than 168 hours here since some time was double counted (like nursing and reading). I tried to choose my primary activity, so if it was a walk with a friend I decided if it was more exercise or friend time. And the "kid" category was just when I was interacting with kids, not when I was cooking and they were watching TV...
My biggest take-away was that I really am not spending too much time on the internet. I read a few blogs, clearly I'm not blogging myself much anymore! The majority of my email-reading and Facebooking is on my phone while nursing, pretty good alignment of tasks.
I'm also reading a lot, 14 hours is about 1400 pages at the speed I read, which seems right, about 3 books per week. When on bed rest I read 33 books in 6 weeks, but I was just laying down all day!
The other best part? I am getting in plenty of friends and family time. Plus I even snuck in a lunchtime sushi date with my husband in addition to talking each night and an hour with a glass of wine on our deck watching the sunset.
This summer I am going to aim for even less Tv and internet, more exercise, and keeping everything else about in line.
How do you spend your 168 hours?
Jessica
