Time budgeting is a practical way to keep your life in balance. It closes the gap between responsibility and goals and the everyday tasks.
Health
Many of us work ourselves to the bone and we jeopardize our health. We must work and we must provide for our families, but we don’t want to work in a manner that affects our health. Remember if you are working yourself too hard and neglecting your health, it could set you back in the long run.
Neglect-Based Prioritizing
We all perform neglect-based prioritizing, which is a vicious cycle. We work hard at our job and get ahead and then realize we are neglecting our family. We then spend time with our families and realize we are neglecting our jobs. Having a healthy balance is the key to a successful work and family life.
Time Budget
Consider allocating time proactively. We all tend to work a 40-hour work week and some spend even more time working. However, set rules that state you will be home for dinner or that you will make your children’s events and not let work get in the way. When you create a time budget, you will see how much time is actually spent on things that don’t matter and this will allow you to budget better.
Watch
Make sure you spend some time watching the clock. The more often you know what time it is, the better grasp you will have on time management. Don’t allow yourself to get too absorbed in a task that you lose track of precious time. We do better if we focus and keep track of time.
Multitask
One other way to save time is to partner tasks, if you are able. If you can read and run on the treadmill, you will get your goals for exercise and learning completed in one task at one time. Make sure the multitasking is effective and not something that causes either of the tasks to be performed improperly.
Compartments
Make sure you compartmentalize important goals in your life. Examples are exercising, learning, working, and socializing. These buckets in your life need to be filled and your time needs to be divided between the different compartments in a manner that is effective and satisfying.
Track
Just like normal budgeting, you will need to track your spending of time and determine if you are budgeting your time in a manner that is effective. Dividing your time into time boxes in blocks of an hour can be an easy way to track and adjust the time you are spending.
Review
Review your actual time spent and see how it compares to what you have budgeted. You must review your time and progress and see what is working for you and what is not working. As you grow, priorities change and time allocations will also change. Weekly reviews will show where your time is being overspent and underspent and you can determine what changes need to occur to get your work-life in balance.
