Apr 22

Apr 22 How Do You Spend Your Time?

Hello beautiful wellness seekers, I'm Liz Moser, and I'm a Mayo Clinic and National Board-Certified Health and Wellness Coach.

Do you tend to exaggerate how long a project will take and then procrastinate starting? Or the opposite, do you routinely assume it takes less time than it does, then you’re rushing the rest of the day to make up time?

Maybe you think you never have enough time? Still, you suspect that unconscious timewasters like checking and rechecking your emails and social media are consuming your day?

Do we truly know how we spend our time each day?

To figure that out for myself, I ran an experiment. I wrote down everything I was doing at 15-minute intervals for one day. I picked a Sunday. Hey, I'm an entrepreneur, so weekends and weekdays are more or less the same. The only significant difference is that I don't talk to my clients on weekends, and I have a bit more free time.

Here is last Sunday in 15-minute chunks, almost like a go-pro camera snapping a picture every 15 minutes, and I earmarked each block of time as either self-care, chores, work, or relaxation and fun.

First things first, I woke up at 5 am.

My morning routine lasted for six, 15 min blocks – I count that as all self-care.

Then two blocks of eating breakfast while driving to work –Self-care and work.

Next 8, 15-minute blocks while I was at work: baking, stocking, making other products, and managing my employee – That was fun but still I count that as work.

Then two blocks of driving home and getting gas for my car- Chores.

Next two blocks of arriving home, putting away groceries, and emptying the dishwasher – More chores.

Then three blocks comprising a weight and a yoga workout on my much-loved Tonal machine – All lovely self-care!

After, 3, 15-minute blocks of uploading my blog to my website and finishing installing my video on YouTube – That was fun but still, I count it as work.

After that was one block of work emails - Work.

Then one block of preparing lunch – Self-care.

And finally, nine blocks of lunch, 2 cups of herbal tea, and a well-deserved TV mid-day break with my partner Dan - Very relaxing and fun!

After my break was 3, 15-minute blocks of practicing French, piano, and then meditation – Mainly self-care and relaxing and fun.

Next was one block of laundry – Chores.

Then two blocks of prepping breakfasts for the upcoming week and listening to a podcast – Self-care.

Then two blocks of napping – That was relaxing and fun.

Next was three blocks of showering and getting ready for dinner out at a restaurant – Self-care.

Then 1, 15-minute block of French – Self-care.

Next was 11 blocks of driving to and from the restaurant and a fantastic dinner with family - Relaxation, and fun.

Then one block of texting clients - I love my clients but that’s still work.

After that were two blocks of washing my face, and my bedtime routine of journals, checklist, etc. – Self-care.

Then finally, after a long day of work, self-care, and chores with plenty of relaxation and fun, I got into bed and turned out the lights at 8:40 pm.

Up at 5 in bed by 8:40. Ahh! What a fun, relaxing, and productive day!

All in all, there were 64, 15-minute blocks in one 16-hour day.

How did I spend my day % wise? Of those 16 waking hours, how many hours did I perform: self-care, chores, work or relaxation, and fun?

Self-care, including my morning and evening routines, French, piano, working out, meditation, etc. – That was 21 blocks or 5 hours and 15 minutes.

Chores around the house and food prep were six blocks or 1 hour and ½.

I worked for 14, 15 minutes blocks or three and ½ hours.

Relaxation and fun such as lunch, sipping herbal tea, watching tv, napping, and dinner out with family lasted for 22 blocks or five and ½ hours.

Percentagewise I spent the most time relaxing and having fun at 34% of my Sunday. As it should be! Right?

Self-care came in second at 33%.

Working came in third at 23%.

And in last place were day to day chores at 10%,

What are my takeaways? I think I live a somewhat intentional life and this experiment showed that. I'm ready to roll up my sleeves and work when I have to, and I schedule my down time and fun and relaxation when I need it. Second, I'm keeping my commitments to my health and wellness with the time I dedicate to my self-care. Third, and most importantly, despite how crazy work has been lately, it's nice to see how much time I'm relaxing and having fun. Also, I'm happy to know that I'm getting to bed early enough to get that solid 7.5 or 8 hours in bed per night. Therefore, despite what I think lately, my life isn’t all work!

Are you ready to run your own experiment and discover how you spend your time? Are you ready to figure out how long routine projects take? And nothing wrong with downtime, hey we need it to thrive but are you choosing it consciously, or is it choosing you in 15 minutes here or there of going down that addictive social media rabbit hole, or checking and rechecking your emails. The first step in choosing how we spend our time is discovering what we’re currently doing. Run the experiment and let me know how it goes!

I’m Liz Moser, a Mayo Clinic and National Board-Certified Health and Wellness Coach, and thank you for reading this blog about the 15-minute experiment to ascertain how we spend our time in a day. If you have any questions about this blog, health, wellness, or wellness coaching with me, please reach out via my website at lizmosercoaching.com.