Carving out time to do the practices making it a habit, can be a challenge. In our busy lives, finding even fifteen free minutes can be difficult. We can get lost in the flow of time, so it’s important to check in with ourselves periodically to evaluate how we use our limited time resources. Each new day offers an opportunity to be more intentional about how we use our time, and to engage in what matters most to us. It can be helpful each day to prioritize tasks and plan for the habits we’d like to develop. To learn how you are really spending your time, try keeping track of your time with a time log (Vanderkam 2018). Once you look at your patterns, you might be surprised that you’re spending hours each week doing things that aren’t important to you.
We aren’t saying that you need to be busy or productive every minute of the day. Indeed, downtime can be one of the best uses of time! But it’s one thing to deliberately rest and quite another to let hours pass without noticing that you’ve been scrolling around online and missing out on doing the things you care most about.
Take an honest look at what you’re really doing with your time. What would it be like to spend more time doing the things that matter most? Debbie: I sometimes think that I’m so busy I don’t have enough time to read fiction anymore, even though it’s one of my greatest joys in life. Keeping a time log helped me see that I actually spend plenty of time reading, but I’m reading “junk food”—scrolling around news and social media sites on my phone. If I really care about reading fiction, I can choose to put my phone down and spend time with a good book instead.
Daily Writing: Your Ideal Day Imagine a day when you get to choose how you spend your time. Who would you spend time with and what would you do?
Today’s Practice In the space below, or on a separate paper or spreadsheet, keep a simple log of how you spend time today. At the end of the day, compare the log with the ideal day you wrote about above.
Are you using time in ways that feel meaningful to you?
Wake-up time:
Time to bed:
This week’s work helped prepare your soil for planting the seeds of psychological flexibility. Keep an eye out for more announcements to come on a special new year new you program with options of 6 and 8 week courses with expanded offerings.
You have an opportunity to join the waitlist for the January 2025 cohorts. Email or send me a message for an early bird special rate and a look at the unique PQIO additions to the already established Positive Intelligence App. The time is now to invest a in your well-being, your essence will thank you ✨
Additional resource to add to daily journaling:
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