ME ME ME i type it in my notes talking about “i’ll write it down later” then forget to type it in my notes on the phone i use to procrastinate with icb
@@RachelleinTheory This is absolutely me as well. I'm required to submit billing for my job every two weeks, and I constantly procrastinate until the last day to figure out what I need to put down, rather than just writing it out as I do it (which is very disruptive- surprises pop up all the time) or doing it at the end of the day- which I'm trying to make a habit of, but it never sticks. Would love any tips!
This reminds me of what happens when you create a budget for your money (planning) but then not actually tracking how it’s spent in real life (time tracking/audit)
color coding made me realize you can actually get stuff done in less time than expected i wanted to study 6+ hours every day like every study influencer literally but it made me very anxious so i decided to study whenever I felt like it and procrastinate whenever I want IF I track every block. I`ve been doing it about a month right now and it changed my life. Surprisingly I averaged at 25 - 30 hours a week of studying a week (less then I originally planned but I was focused and motivated). Made me feel so much better and less stressed. Had more time to cook and workout. Actually didn`t miss a deadline. My grades even went up. 10/10 experience.
Tracking stuff is tedious, it consumes spoons (energy, focus, executive function, allotted hours of tolerable-pain-levels per day, etc.) but it WORKS. It works with time, it works with money, it works with food, it works with physical activity. And doing any of these things will lead to slightly more informed intuition/gut feelings for each time you do it, so even if you prefer to fly by the seat of your pants in general (= value your freedom and autonomy highly), said flying will just get BETTER over time (= more congruent with your goals and values) if you take a deep breath and buckle down for a [pick a category]-tracking EXPERIMENT once in a while. Even 3 days at a time will help a bit. A week, better. A month, fantastic! (Framing these as "experiments" helps me personally to resist them less.)
2 hours a day on social media seems like really good to me. My highest recorded screen time was like 12 hours. But I also just put on UA-cam and have it run in the background while I work or clean so I don’t always take screen time at face value. I’m definitely going to try this time tracking because I admit I do spend an obscene amount of time scrolling
I love time tracking! Prob the best time I've done it is when we adopted two cats. It was so hard to work at home, I felt like I was being interrupted the whole day by these new kittens wanting attention. When I time tracked I was able to see their rhythms, too! Time tracking's also been really great for learning about my health issues. I learned when I ate sugar at breakfast, the whole afternoon would be a wash 'cause I'd have massive headaches.
I just got two new kittens, and I feel the same - feeding, poop-scooping and just hanging out with them is taking up so much of my day! 😂I think I'll start tracking my time on Monday and see if I can get more efficient!
Try to start your day with veggies and/or eggs… check out the lady “glucose goddess”… sugar is the worst but you can eat it at the end of a meal if you must.
I am so relieved to see someone who is also procrastinating during workday. Because I do it too, to similar extent, but often feel guilt or shame about it, even at times when there is not that much work. And also the comments section - not one single comment about it, nobody is shaming or accusing of time theft and I am so glad! Anyways, great video, very relatable.
I procrastinate at work as well, some days it feels like I get the work done in my last 30 minutes in the office. So, you are not alone… and I‘m still searching for the secret of the people who work consistent on their work day.
As a person who is neuro divergent, I really appreciate this. I will give this a go. I bought myself a makselife planner at the beginning of this year and have yet to start using it. Partly bc I am recovering from breast cancer and partly due to a lack of executive function (ADHD). Now I have plenty of empty pages to go back to track how I am spending my time 😂😂 New sub!
I'm autistic and it's been a serious life saver. Don't give up if it doesn't make sense at first, believe in yourself and you'll find what works for you!!
I guess my thought would just be: why is social media time “mindless” or not valuable? And I don’t mean that critically! I genuinely mean: just because something isn’t “productive” doesn’t mean it doesn’t have value to your mental health. Obviously where you can identify time that you’re feeling stressed/need some more time for routines then yes that trade off is healthy, but I always want to gently push back on this idea that something has to be “immediately productive” to actually be beneficial to you. You can build/be part of online communities that help you support and foster interests, passively stay in touch with friends, and just decompress and enjoy laughs with “scrolling” and none of that is intrinsically “mindless”; it’s just a passive way to engage that gives your brain time to rest and reboot!
this is actually more or less how I've been using my planning system! I have a "plan what I want to happen this week/how I want this week to happen" planner in my jibun techo and then in my hobonichi cousin I do more on-the-fly planning mixed with time tracking. when I hit a thirty-minute "block" I decide what that next thirty minutes is going to look like (working, cleaning, doing a care block of shower/brush teeth/etc., writing, journaling) and do that until either the task is done or I'm done doing the task. (I promise there's a difference lol) at that point, I note the time I stopped doing the task, pick my next thing, and do the same! I do struggle with time-blindness so this has been super helpful in getting me to figure out that oh, vacuuming really isn't that bad and it literally doesn't even take up a full thirty-minute block in my planner when I do it. I can even reasonably do it between tasks and not bother noting it beyond just "this was the day I vacuumed" so I know when it happened last. It's a neat system for me, although next year I'm definitely getting the hobonichi avec to make the dual-book system be actually wieldy.
I used to do this for years to track what I did as a pc repair person, and I usually included my off-time as well to keep the habit going consistently. I feel like it helped me a lot with keeping motivated. I still suck at using a planner to “plan my time”, but I do ok with having lists of “must do” and “should do” as long as no more than 2 “must do” items a day.
I had to pause the video to comment on your commitment to getting out of bed immediately: It might sound like a great idea, but pay attention to how your body reacts. Some bodies just really need that chill after-alarm time to truly wake up. Sure, jumping right into social media might not be the best strategy here, but laying in bed after the alarm until you're ready to get up just might save you a lot of coffee and fuzzy-brain bumbling around. Took me some time to figure this out, but now that I've learned to recognize the feeling of my brain coming fully online, I get up pretty much ready for whatever and my life is a lot less miserable than it was when I was shaming myself for snoozing.
Just found you yesterday and my time management is nonexistent. Pretty embarrassing with so much to do. Last week I missed 2 doctor appts, my therapist, and one for mom. Can’t do that! Tracking my time will be a good place to start. ADHD is a bear! Jan in Oklahoma
This has inspired me to try some side by side time tracking. I rock dailies and I always put my daily schedule in my planner, but I’m gonna split it and try comparing my planned day versus my actual day to see HOW badly I’m not staying on task! Or how often I multitask versus truly focus.
I watched this a few months after it was posted BUT I would love to see a follow up and how you used what you learned, the changes you made or didn't make, etc. Thanks Rachelle!
I would absolutely love to hear how you manage and control your social media habit with how it crosses over into your UA-cam channel! For example, for me, social media/internet use is a HUGE component for generating leads, marketing and getting work. It's SO EASY to get into habits like this (check all the things soon as you wake up, scroll while commuting, extended breaks between work tasks, falling into black holes scrolling during actual marketing effort sprints, etc.) Good on you for tracking all this. I've been retroactively timeblocking for a few weeks now, and it helps me keep on track so much. I'm not necessarily prioritising the most important stuff just yet - I think I need to do this exercise and visualise/analyse how i've actually been spending my time first. Well done! :)
This makes me think of how productive I used to be in a forced public school schedule and my planner. Now I make my own schedule and it’s messy and unproductive .
i havent been able to time track fully since the pandemic. going about the universe without access to all my journals has induced such mania and mental distress. no one gets it. but THANK YOU FOR MAKING THIS VID. i am indeed insane ! but at least i knew for damn sure seeing a physical color coded representation of my movement on earth was extremely vital to my sanity.
I love this and I'm most definitely gonna start tracking my time. I've been feeling guilty about the time I spent on my phone scrolling away while there are a thousand of more urgent things to do. I don't allow myself to play games or go out with friends because of my endless academic to-do list, but I recently realized I could've been doing everything if I just cut down my social media time and start being more productive. This seems like the perfect first step towards improvement and something I would enjoy to do. Subscribed.
Only 1.5 min in and I really really appreciate you explicitly saying that it's easier to track digitally. It makes me feel like I can trust you to be thorough and honest for the rest of the video. Blessssssssssssss.
Hi Rachelle, your video was truly uplifting and relatable! It feels like you've uncovered a treasure map to better time management. Your openness certainly resonates and the courage to face the 'scrolling black holes' is inspiring. Love the content you produce.
In the 70s before there were so many nail colours to choose, I coloured my nails each a different clour with khaki pens (similar to highlighters). Once the nail dried a would just use a clear nail polish. I would also use the glitter in the clear nail polish.🎉
This is such a comprehensive video, Thank you! I'm ashamed to admit that I tried doing this and failed miserably. My life is incredibly disorganized when it comes to managing time, which affected even my relationship with my wife for a while due to basically overworking and overstudying. Right now, I'm learning web development, working from home, and being an amateur powerlifting. I wonder how can I even start doing something like this to be more time-conscious and available socially. I would really appreciate your tips.
I track my time in reference to chronic illness. I keep track of things that take a lot of mental effort, physical effort (errands/cleaning), when I leave the house, and time spent in bed to track how much my illness is affecting functioning. I also track rest/hobby time, and sleep. I apply zero judgement or morality but I try to notice when I’m spending a lot of hours in a row on one category so that I can shift to another kind of activity. It keeps my illness from flaring too much when I don’t spend too much time in one area (for me I’ve noticed about 2 hours is when I should shift). Just brings a general awareness and it’s been good so far.
I’m scared to do this 😂 but I really appreciate this video, and definitely need to get a grip on reality and map out how I’m using/wasting my time. Thank you as always, Rachelle!!! 💖✨
I know you said you didn’t want to show us your apple calendar because it was trashed, but it would be really helpful if we could see how you actually input your time tracking digitally. I go back and try to backfill my planner at the end of the day or even throughout the day to see what I did at what times to keep up with some time tracking but I am super inspired by this and would love to try this. I could really use some guidance on how to track down to the micro using the phone. Thanks so much!
This reminds me of working for my nightmare boss where we had to put everything we did on the calendar and I spent more time and stress worrying about updating the damn calendar, so much so that it impacted my work and my mental health. There is no way on god's green earth I will ever go back to doing something close to this.
This is so relatable, I feel seen that you were honest randomly waste so much time laying in bed or a scrolling on your phone because me too. This is super enlightening
I time tracked my last 2 days....wow I have never been so productive.....I was so mindful of how I was spending my time. I didn't want to write down that I was wasting time.
This video randomly popped on my home screen now (probably god knew I needed to hear this) but boy this is so effective and helpful. I really needed to understand this. My manager keeps saying I love working with data, and I am data-driven, but now I understand what she means. Thank you for bringing this to our lives. Sometimes I wonder how easily we underestimate the simplest things in life that could be actually effective for someone else
Commenting before I even watch the full video, because I'm so excited to see another person talking about this! I'm in grad school, and have plenty of work, but struggle to get it all done because of the flexible schedule. Started time tracking in my Jibun Techo this year, and I love it, even though it sometimes feels overkill :p
the fact that i almost add this video to my "another watch later" playlist (bcs the original watch later is already full) haunts me, so i push myself to watch 💀
Really helpful video. I am dyslexic and really get overwhelmed with everything i have to do and balancing everything. So im going to try this for the next 2 weeks to see how i get on ☺️💛 thank you!!
I was using ATracker on my phone to track my time, because you can just tap a button on your Lock Screen to start tracking as new activity, so it minimises time and effort spent on the tracking. Also, all the categorisation and colour-coding is done once, on setting the activity buttons up. However, the difficulty with time tracking in this way is getting the accuracy, because it’s so easy to _forget_ to track a block of time and to leave a timer running. Maybe it would work better to do it in my calendar, manually, like you - it’s more visual and I can instantly see where I’ve left a gap and fill it in as I go along, before I forget what I was doing. I might try doing a couple of weeks the way you did it. After all, I’m already using the calendar regularly, both for my appointments and time-blocking.
It was nice to see some confirmation of the usefulness of tracking. I track my spending money. When I needed to reduce my weight, I also began by tracking my consumption of calories/kilojoules over a month: You may think you know what you eat. You might be right, but there might also be a couple of surprises leading to the result of just a minor adjustment of eating habits, instead of the big diet plan. I am going to try tracking my time also. Should be very interesting.
I'll do that for the next couple of weeks. I recently graduated, and since, my life is a mess with job hunting and all 😂 i think it would be cool to get back to a sort of structure!
Get out of my brain! 😬 I just did this, too! Exact same colors. My schedule shifted and i needed to know how much time is available for admin versus the old. And it confirmed that my old schedule had too much open time. The new one keeps me busy without getting "too much free time" boring.
Honestly the 2.5 hours on social media sounds so low to me :( I don’t even want to check what mine looks like. Definitely a wake up call to do this for myself.
I’ve tracked my time before using Toggl. You’ve inspired me to do a new little self time study! Also, I recently picked up an undated Common Planner from your recommendation. Love it so far!
I recommend it for a month maximum, because it can become tiring, time-blocking can also become exhausting after a few months, even if you're flexible with it, 1:15 yes that! EXACTLY THAT! even just looking at what I was most likely going to do during the week, tired me
Thank you for this very informative : Going to bed late and getting up is hard, we seem to have this creep where we are fine for a few months then suddenly we putting the snooze button on binge watching things on net-flicks and the curse of the smartphone is another issue entirely. (I had to remove all games and social media from my phone, even youtube as I would just waste 3-4 hours a day not including dead space in the day I couldn't actually work out what I was doing. I actually now have 3 programs I set to watch on YT now, I try to get up at 6am to leave at 7.30 to walk & Gymn, then depending on clients I either plan/write/study/Journal in a Cafe (not at home) have a meeting then see clients until 5.30pm
This was really enlightening! I use an app on my PC called timebro to track everything I do when I’m sitting at my desk, but sometimes the time it takes to get there and ready for work is very, very much longer than it should be! I was diagnosed with ADHD late last year, and medications do not help with transitioning between activities or time blindness! You’ve pushed me to download a free time tracking app for my phone (I got the free version of clockify), and starting right now I’m using it to see where all the rest of my time goes! By the way, I like your pencil-and-notebook approach but I find digital tools a lot easier to consistently keep updated and with notifications, a lot harder to ignore 😅
It sounds fun, so I decided to try it!! The hardest part for me is putting all my activities in certain categories or exactly track everything since my ADHD brain often switches between tasks or do multitasking
While I totally get that you're appauled by how much time you spend on social media (and really, it is kind of a public health crisis...Our eyes and minds are sore from it) I would present the idea of "useful wandering"... Wether it's at work or in personal time, the mind needs moments to breathe and to do it's work and we don't have much control over that process... So, wether if it's by taking a pause-walk or strolling your insta/FB/Pinterest/TT Rabbit Hole for few minutes, this is the mental space for a healthy pause. I guess this all new to most of us and we need to just find our bearings in defining what's mindless doomscrolling for an hour (or while doing something else) and what is "chasing the Muse". ;) Love your channel and it's diversity, from time planning to bullet journaling efficience.
Thank you so much!! And I ABSOLUTELY agree. I’m not trying to cut socials entirely. I just need a bit better control to make sure mindless wandering doesn’t turn into eternal doom scrolling 😂
I can relate to using social media to distract yourself from work 😅 I'd love to see in the future how you implemented changes or how your week was modified by this insight! I definitely want to try tracking a couple of weeks too although I'm not gonna lie, I'm kinda scared of what the results could be lol I'm sure I'll feel called out with all the things I say I want to do in the week and then end up not doing... but I guess it would help with being more realistic and accurate when planning 🤔
I've done this several time in spare cousin pages etc. And the results are usually unpleasant 😂😂😂😂 I mostly do it to see where I can carve out extra time and usually find I can't unless I can somehow clone myself. I highly recommend it though from time to time as you have suggested. I like how you did a few weeks to find a sort of average too! Doing it every 6 months or so seems like a good time for me as sometimes things change enough for me to squeeze a bit in here and there. I would say though, definitely reduce social media scrolling, but don't cut out the little moments of relaxation altogether. Sometimes you need to actively spend time relaxing and it isn't lazy if the rest of the time you are busy and industrious! Half an hour in bed here and there isn't the end of the world if you are recharging or simply thinking. We all definitely need to work out how to lose years of our life on negative social media though (youtube is always positive for me!!❤). Thanks for another lovely video!
I find the categories especially valuable. I time track once a year (I really struggle with time blindness so it helps me as an activity to do), but I've never put it into categories!
i really enjoyed this video and was so focused of the nail with a heart(so pretty!) i almost didn't catch it that all of them are Taylor's albums!! you're beautiful
This was a much needed video for me. I’m setting up my time tracking right now plan to start next Monday. Maybe this will help me organize my time better. Thanks for such a helpful video 😊
About the sleep time: i used to think I needed 9h too, but I recently realized that I just need more time to decompress/wake up before and after sleeping. I can't just go straight to bed and sleep, I need to tan the lights and get my brain into "sleep mode" which is just not thinking about something to do about an hour before the time at which I actually need to go to bed. And in the morning I can't just wake up at once and go do stuff, I need like 30 minutes just to wake up without feeling stressed out. Only thing left is to manage to stop being on my phone during all those pre and post sleep moments
Unrelated: I'm new to your channel and I really like how you explain and analyze everything while staying realistic about it! You found a new subscriber
That was very insightful. I’m sure I don’t use my time wisely. Right now I am unable to do too much for physical health reasons. But I am keeping track of things I have to do during this time. I hope to keep tracking what has to be done afterward.
THIS WAS AMAZING OMG. I did this years ago after reading 168 Hours and am so excited to do it again and see how different life is. Still in awe of every single video you put out. And you.
So this was the result of your time tracking but how did you actually track your time? Was there an app? Did you actually stop what you were doing to notate how much time you spent on it? It seems like a good idea but I have no idea how you actually kept track of your time
I find it very interesting how other people spend their time so thank you for the insights. I scroll too much as well, but never summarized my daily hours into weekly hours. And you inspired me to track my time this week.
I've been turning off my alarm and going back to bed too. It's the worst, I can put my phone (also my alarm) completely across the room and I still crawl back into bed. What's baffling me most is that I used that same technique effectively when I had a room half the size! Putting my phone closer doesn't help either, my brain is just done listening when it's half asleep 😫
I think I'm generally curious about what social media satisfies in us. If social media goes down when partner time goes up, maybe it'd be harder to substitute social media with tasks...
Very interesting! I also think that tracking (time, money, food... ) is something everyone should do, even just for a couple of weeks from time to time. It gives us awareness. ❤ P.s. I'm curious, is there a reason you call him "long term partner" and not just "partner"?
Hi, I really enjoyed this break down and your analysis of "surprise" time spent as well as your goals to shift it. Here's my question? Have you been able to shift your time to align better with your goals (ie less social media, more space to enjoy time and be mindful). Wondering if it's worth it to take it a step further and think about WHY those chunks are being "time sucked" by those particular activities and how the habits can shift while still filling what your brain/body craves. For instance, time spent scrolling social media - perhaps disassociation from doing work, but maybe also just your brain needing a blank landing spot for a second before going to back into work-mode or shifting tasks. What else could be more beneficial (and not go off the rails time-wise) in those in-between moments but still give your brain a break? Same for staying in bed in the morning-maybe it's the body needing to ease into the day, or craves a quiet moment with your partner. You could A) mindset shift, just let it be and not feel guilty and make it part of "the plan" and then it becomes a lovely planned bit of your day-to-day or B) take those quiet moments in another space with a book or journal and leave the phone behind. I don't have any solutions or any opinion of right or wrong way to shift one's schedule and feel better about it. Honestly, I relate to ALL OF THIS, and just sort of working through the thoughts and ideas that came up while I watched the video and wondering if you've run into any of this and how you're feeling about your shift in hour consumption 3 months later. Thanks for making great videos! I find them very inspiring and motivating. Excuse me while I go jot this all down on my own time tracker haha.
I so need to do this for a few weeks - just to get an better idea of where the time goes. I am in week two of trying some low key time tracking/flow method for my 9 to 5 because I really struggle estimating how long routine work tasks actually take me. I am pretty sure I too will be horrified by my "phone time" - games/scrolling/general spacing out. Loved this video!
I want to try this but I’m never aware of when I switch between things! Like, I will realize that at some point I stopped working and started procrastinating. Or at some point I stopped doing dishes and started putting away laundry. Or at some point I stopped doing emails and started watching UA-cam. But I’m usually not fully ‘awake’ when those changes happen so I just ‘wake up’ later and know it must have happened but not when.
Thanks, this really helped me, I have take control of my time and this was very inspiring. I am going to try time tracking now that I watched this video!!
Thanks for sharing! I have a couple questions: 1. How did you account for your time in the moment? Note time start/end or something else? Also, I feel you on social media time-do you know how you’re going to limit scrolling going forward? I’d love to hear ideas cuz I’m struggling with discipline here. I’m also curious if you’re social media time was in line with the weekly reports you got from your phone (if you’re phone does that every Sunday)
Hi Rachelle! I find your videos very interesting and helpful for so many people who struggle planning. I can't help but wonder if you could tell us what your MBTI personality type is ! ☺
interesting - I feel a pie chart would really help the audience (and maybe yourself) see/visualise the time (or bars for each day) - I'd exclude sleep aside from actually knowing the overall figure.. nice journal
This is so helpful - as is all your content! I first used a time monitor log in college and have gone back to it in the last few years in the form of vertical planners like the Cousin and now Sterling Ink. I think I’ll try coloring in my categories to get a better visual of my week.
it's kind of interesting that we get down when we're not working on our priorities, but those priorities directly contribute to other people not focusing on their priorities.... example: you were happy you spent so much time on youtube content creation and wanted to decrease your time mindlessly scrolling, but your content creation gives the algorithm more fodder to feed consumers, thereby enticing them to continue "wasting" their time on the platform. what i mean is, everyone wants to create and not scroll, but sharing your creations enables people to keep scrolling instead of creating.
i would procrastinate tracking my time 💀 "i'll write it down later"
Nooooo 🥲🥲
Don't give me ideas
@@ya__basic lol accurate 😅
ME ME ME i type it in my notes talking about “i’ll write it down later” then forget to type it in my notes on the phone i use to procrastinate with icb
@@RachelleinTheory This is absolutely me as well. I'm required to submit billing for my job every two weeks, and I constantly procrastinate until the last day to figure out what I need to put down, rather than just writing it out as I do it (which is very disruptive- surprises pop up all the time) or doing it at the end of the day- which I'm trying to make a habit of, but it never sticks. Would love any tips!
It's a whole mood that you tracked "feeling sad" in your calendar. I can relate
Sometimes it really just be like that
Cuddling 🥺
And literally a mood :D
This reminds me of what happens when you create a budget for your money (planning) but then not actually tracking how it’s spent in real life (time tracking/audit)
Using a budgeting app is a great idea! Thanks for the inspiration!
A great book that addresses this very issue is “Your Money Or Your Life”. A quick easy read that will improve your attitude towards money. Cheers.
D: omg
Lmao i always track after I spending but never plan when to spend it, so far so good
@@gwarlow does it ( or do you) suggest a way to track it? On paper??
color coding made me realize you can actually get stuff done in less time than expected
i wanted to study 6+ hours every day like every study influencer literally but it made me very anxious so i decided to study whenever I felt like it and procrastinate whenever I want IF I track every block.
I`ve been doing it about a month right now and it changed my life. Surprisingly I averaged at 25 - 30 hours a week of studying a week (less then I originally planned but I was focused and motivated).
Made me feel so much better and less stressed. Had more time to cook and workout. Actually didn`t miss a deadline. My grades even went up. 10/10 experience.
this is amazing! I am jealous because if I did this with work, I wouldn't keep a job haha. Studying can be much more fun though :)
What I got out of this video:
1. Time tracking exists and I need to do it!
2. Your channel exists and I need to check it out.
Great video.
Thank you and welcome to the channel!
Tracking stuff is tedious, it consumes spoons (energy, focus, executive function, allotted hours of tolerable-pain-levels per day, etc.) but it WORKS. It works with time, it works with money, it works with food, it works with physical activity. And doing any of these things will lead to slightly more informed intuition/gut feelings for each time you do it, so even if you prefer to fly by the seat of your pants in general (= value your freedom and autonomy highly), said flying will just get BETTER over time (= more congruent with your goals and values) if you take a deep breath and buckle down for a [pick a category]-tracking EXPERIMENT once in a while. Even 3 days at a time will help a bit. A week, better. A month, fantastic!
(Framing these as "experiments" helps me personally to resist them less.)
2 hours a day on social media seems like really good to me. My highest recorded screen time was like 12 hours. But I also just put on UA-cam and have it run in the background while I work or clean so I don’t always take screen time at face value. I’m definitely going to try this time tracking because I admit I do spend an obscene amount of time scrolling
I love time tracking! Prob the best time I've done it is when we adopted two cats. It was so hard to work at home, I felt like I was being interrupted the whole day by these new kittens wanting attention. When I time tracked I was able to see their rhythms, too! Time tracking's also been really great for learning about my health issues. I learned when I ate sugar at breakfast, the whole afternoon would be a wash 'cause I'd have massive headaches.
I just got two new kittens, and I feel the same - feeding, poop-scooping and just hanging out with them is taking up so much of my day! 😂I think I'll start tracking my time on Monday and see if I can get more efficient!
Try to start your day with veggies and/or eggs… check out the lady “glucose goddess”… sugar is the worst but you can eat it at the end of a meal if you must.
I am so relieved to see someone who is also procrastinating during workday. Because I do it too, to similar extent, but often feel guilt or shame about it, even at times when there is not that much work. And also the comments section - not one single comment about it, nobody is shaming or accusing of time theft and I am so glad! Anyways, great video, very relatable.
I procrastinate at work as well, some days it feels like I get the work done in my last 30 minutes in the office. So, you are not alone… and I‘m still searching for the secret of the people who work consistent on their work day.
As a person who is neuro divergent, I really appreciate this. I will give this a go. I bought myself a makselife planner at the beginning of this year and have yet to start using it. Partly bc I am recovering from breast cancer and partly due to a lack of executive function (ADHD). Now I have plenty of empty pages to go back to track how I am spending my time 😂😂 New sub!
I'm autistic and it's been a serious life saver. Don't give up if it doesn't make sense at first, believe in yourself and you'll find what works for you!!
I confess it's terrifying to think about it, but the last time I time tracked it made me realize how little actual time I have.
It really is the MOST precious resource
I guess my thought would just be: why is social media time “mindless” or not valuable? And I don’t mean that critically! I genuinely mean: just because something isn’t “productive” doesn’t mean it doesn’t have value to your mental health. Obviously where you can identify time that you’re feeling stressed/need some more time for routines then yes that trade off is healthy, but I always want to gently push back on this idea that something has to be “immediately productive” to actually be beneficial to you. You can build/be part of online communities that help you support and foster interests, passively stay in touch with friends, and just decompress and enjoy laughs with “scrolling” and none of that is intrinsically “mindless”; it’s just a passive way to engage that gives your brain time to rest and reboot!
this is actually more or less how I've been using my planning system! I have a "plan what I want to happen this week/how I want this week to happen" planner in my jibun techo and then in my hobonichi cousin I do more on-the-fly planning mixed with time tracking. when I hit a thirty-minute "block" I decide what that next thirty minutes is going to look like (working, cleaning, doing a care block of shower/brush teeth/etc., writing, journaling) and do that until either the task is done or I'm done doing the task. (I promise there's a difference lol) at that point, I note the time I stopped doing the task, pick my next thing, and do the same! I do struggle with time-blindness so this has been super helpful in getting me to figure out that oh, vacuuming really isn't that bad and it literally doesn't even take up a full thirty-minute block in my planner when I do it. I can even reasonably do it between tasks and not bother noting it beyond just "this was the day I vacuumed" so I know when it happened last. It's a neat system for me, although next year I'm definitely getting the hobonichi avec to make the dual-book system be actually wieldy.
Good video, but I wish you talked more about how you actually tracked your time, and how you kept yourself mindful and accountable to do so.
I used to do this for years to track what I did as a pc repair person, and I usually included my off-time as well to keep the habit going consistently. I feel like it helped me a lot with keeping motivated. I still suck at using a planner to “plan my time”, but I do ok with having lists of “must do” and “should do” as long as no more than 2 “must do” items a day.
i procrastinate so much, i'mma for sure even procrastinate tracking it...
I had to pause the video to comment on your commitment to getting out of bed immediately: It might sound like a great idea, but pay attention to how your body reacts. Some bodies just really need that chill after-alarm time to truly wake up. Sure, jumping right into social media might not be the best strategy here, but laying in bed after the alarm until you're ready to get up just might save you a lot of coffee and fuzzy-brain bumbling around. Took me some time to figure this out, but now that I've learned to recognize the feeling of my brain coming fully online, I get up pretty much ready for whatever and my life is a lot less miserable than it was when I was shaming myself for snoozing.
This is a great point 🩵 thank you for sharing!!
Just found you yesterday and my time management is nonexistent. Pretty embarrassing with so much to do. Last week I missed 2 doctor appts, my therapist, and one for mom. Can’t do that!
Tracking my time will be a good place to start. ADHD is a bear!
Jan in Oklahoma
This has inspired me to try some side by side time tracking. I rock dailies and I always put my daily schedule in my planner, but I’m gonna split it and try comparing my planned day versus my actual day to see HOW badly I’m not staying on task! Or how often I multitask versus truly focus.
I watched this a few months after it was posted BUT I would love to see a follow up and how you used what you learned, the changes you made or didn't make, etc. Thanks Rachelle!
I would absolutely love to hear how you manage and control your social media habit with how it crosses over into your UA-cam channel! For example, for me, social media/internet use is a HUGE component for generating leads, marketing and getting work. It's SO EASY to get into habits like this (check all the things soon as you wake up, scroll while commuting, extended breaks between work tasks, falling into black holes scrolling during actual marketing effort sprints, etc.) Good on you for tracking all this. I've been retroactively timeblocking for a few weeks now, and it helps me keep on track so much. I'm not necessarily prioritising the most important stuff just yet - I think I need to do this exercise and visualise/analyse how i've actually been spending my time first. Well done! :)
This makes me think of how productive I used to be in a forced public school schedule and my planner. Now I make my own schedule and it’s messy and unproductive .
The very thought of picking up a notebook and time tracking makes me wanna do it later.
i havent been able to time track fully since the pandemic. going about the universe without access to all my journals has induced such mania and mental distress. no one gets it. but THANK YOU FOR MAKING THIS VID. i am indeed insane ! but at least i knew for damn sure seeing a physical color coded representation of my movement on earth was extremely vital to my sanity.
I love this and I'm most definitely gonna start tracking my time. I've been feeling guilty about the time I spent on my phone scrolling away while there are a thousand of more urgent things to do. I don't allow myself to play games or go out with friends because of my endless academic to-do list, but I recently realized I could've been doing everything if I just cut down my social media time and start being more productive. This seems like the perfect first step towards improvement and something I would enjoy to do. Subscribed.
Only 1.5 min in and I really really appreciate you explicitly saying that it's easier to track digitally. It makes me feel like I can trust you to be thorough and honest for the rest of the video. Blessssssssssssss.
Such a powerful exercise! I've being time tracking and is eye-opening how much time I waste, haha. But it's a good starting point to change things.
I've been time-tracking using a color-coding system, too. Tracking my procrastination time has been really alarming lol
Hi Rachelle, your video was truly uplifting and relatable! It feels like you've uncovered a treasure map to better time management. Your openness certainly resonates and the courage to face the 'scrolling black holes' is inspiring. Love the content you produce.
Thank you so much!
love the Taylor Swift album colors on your nails!! and this video inspires me to do my own time tracking as well!
Love for the TS nails warms my little heart lol. I hope you do try it!!!
Omg thank you for explaining. I thought it looked so random haha
In the 70s before there were so many nail colours to choose, I coloured my nails each a different clour with khaki pens (similar to highlighters). Once the nail dried a would just use a clear nail polish. I would also use the glitter in the clear nail polish.🎉
This is such a comprehensive video, Thank you!
I'm ashamed to admit that I tried doing this and failed miserably. My life is incredibly disorganized when it comes to managing time, which affected even my relationship with my wife for a while due to basically overworking and overstudying.
Right now, I'm learning web development, working from home, and being an amateur powerlifting. I wonder how can I even start doing something like this to be more time-conscious and available socially.
I would really appreciate your tips.
Me too. I’m having the exact same problem 😢
I use my week spreads to track how I’m spending my time this year and it’s been so nice to see it all, and interpret the data from my spreads.
I track my time in reference to chronic illness. I keep track of things that take a lot of mental effort, physical effort (errands/cleaning), when I leave the house, and time spent in bed to track how much my illness is affecting functioning. I also track rest/hobby time, and sleep.
I apply zero judgement or morality but I try to notice when I’m spending a lot of hours in a row on one category so that I can shift to another kind of activity. It keeps my illness from flaring too much when I don’t spend too much time in one area (for me I’ve noticed about 2 hours is when I should shift). Just brings a general awareness and it’s been good so far.
That's genius.
I’m scared to do this 😂 but I really appreciate this video, and definitely need to get a grip on reality and map out how I’m using/wasting my time. Thank you as always, Rachelle!!! 💖✨
I know you said you didn’t want to show us your apple calendar because it was trashed, but it would be really helpful if we could see how you actually input your time tracking digitally. I go back and try to backfill my planner at the end of the day or even throughout the day to see what I did at what times to keep up with some time tracking but I am super inspired by this and would love to try this. I could really use some guidance on how to track down to the micro using the phone. Thanks so much!
This reminds me of working for my nightmare boss where we had to put everything we did on the calendar and I spent more time and stress worrying about updating the damn calendar, so much so that it impacted my work and my mental health. There is no way on god's green earth I will ever go back to doing something close to this.
This is so relatable, I feel seen that you were honest randomly waste so much time laying in bed or a scrolling on your phone because me too. This is super enlightening
I time tracked my last 2 days....wow I have never been so productive.....I was so mindful of how I was spending my time. I didn't want to write down that I was wasting time.
This video randomly popped on my home screen now (probably god knew I needed to hear this) but boy this is so effective and helpful. I really needed to understand this. My manager keeps saying I love working with data, and I am data-driven, but now I understand what she means. Thank you for bringing this to our lives. Sometimes I wonder how easily we underestimate the simplest things in life that could be actually effective for someone else
Commenting before I even watch the full video, because I'm so excited to see another person talking about this! I'm in grad school, and have plenty of work, but struggle to get it all done because of the flexible schedule. Started time tracking in my Jibun Techo this year, and I love it, even though it sometimes feels overkill :p
the fact that i almost add this video to my "another watch later" playlist (bcs the original watch later is already full) haunts me, so i push myself to watch 💀
Sameereee😂
The Forest App helped me cut down on phone screen time. And now, I’ve gotten enough points to plant 2 REAL trees!! 🎉🎉
Really helpful video. I am dyslexic and really get overwhelmed with everything i have to do and balancing everything. So im going to try this for the next 2 weeks to see how i get on ☺️💛 thank you!!
I was using ATracker on my phone to track my time, because you can just tap a button on your Lock Screen to start tracking as new activity, so it minimises time and effort spent on the tracking. Also, all the categorisation and colour-coding is done once, on setting the activity buttons up.
However, the difficulty with time tracking in this way is getting the accuracy, because it’s so easy to _forget_ to track a block of time and to leave a timer running. Maybe it would work better to do it in my calendar, manually, like you - it’s more visual and I can instantly see where I’ve left a gap and fill it in as I go along, before I forget what I was doing. I might try doing a couple of weeks the way you did it. After all, I’m already using the calendar regularly, both for my appointments and time-blocking.
It was nice to see some confirmation of the usefulness of tracking. I track my spending money. When I needed to reduce my weight, I also began by tracking my consumption of calories/kilojoules over a month: You may think you know what you eat. You might be right, but there might also be a couple of surprises leading to the result of just a minor adjustment of eating habits, instead of the big diet plan.
I am going to try tracking my time also. Should be very interesting.
I'll do that for the next couple of weeks. I recently graduated, and since, my life is a mess with job hunting and all 😂 i think it would be cool to get back to a sort of structure!
😂I read the title and thought this is a brilliant idea I have to watch this video and then I put it on my watch later list😆
Make sure to track watching it when you track your time lol 😭
Randomly found your channel from a google search and now im binging. TYSM for the awesome content!!
I am gonna try something like this. Rather than having a to-do list I am going to make a list of the things I actually did after the day ends :)
Get out of my brain! 😬 I just did this, too! Exact same colors. My schedule shifted and i needed to know how much time is available for admin versus the old. And it confirmed that my old schedule had too much open time. The new one keeps me busy without getting "too much free time" boring.
EXACT SAME COLOR. We are synced 👯♀️
This is one of the best videos of your that I’ve watched. Love how vulnerable and honest you were.😊
Honestly the 2.5 hours on social media sounds so low to me :( I don’t even want to check what mine looks like. Definitely a wake up call to do this for myself.
I’ve tracked my time before using Toggl. You’ve inspired me to do a new little self time study! Also, I recently picked up an undated Common Planner from your recommendation. Love it so far!
I recommend it for a month maximum, because it can become tiring, time-blocking can also become exhausting after a few months, even if you're flexible with it, 1:15 yes that! EXACTLY THAT! even just looking at what I was most likely going to do during the week, tired me
Ohhhh yes I so agree!
Thank you for this very informative : Going to bed late and getting up is hard, we seem to have this creep where we are fine for a few months then suddenly we putting the snooze button on binge watching things on net-flicks and the curse of the smartphone is another issue entirely. (I had to remove all games and social media from my phone, even youtube as I would just waste 3-4 hours a day not including dead space in the day I couldn't actually work out what I was doing. I actually now have 3 programs I set to watch on YT now, I try to get up at 6am to leave at 7.30 to walk & Gymn, then depending on clients I either plan/write/study/Journal in a Cafe (not at home) have a meeting then see clients until 5.30pm
PHENOMENAL VIDEO. THANK YOU FOR THIS IDEA RACHELLE!
I started crying watching this because I miss you. Love you so proud of you.
Sid
This was really enlightening! I use an app on my PC called timebro to track everything I do when I’m sitting at my desk, but sometimes the time it takes to get there and ready for work is very, very much longer than it should be! I was diagnosed with ADHD late last year, and medications do not help with transitioning between activities or time blindness! You’ve pushed me to download a free time tracking app for my phone (I got the free version of clockify), and starting right now I’m using it to see where all the rest of my time goes!
By the way, I like your pencil-and-notebook approach but I find digital tools a lot easier to consistently keep updated and with notifications, a lot harder to ignore 😅
It sounds fun, so I decided to try it!! The hardest part for me is putting all my activities in certain categories or exactly track everything since my ADHD brain often switches between tasks or do multitasking
While I totally get that you're appauled by how much time you spend on social media (and really, it is kind of a public health crisis...Our eyes and minds are sore from it) I would present the idea of "useful wandering"... Wether it's at work or in personal time, the mind needs moments to breathe and to do it's work and we don't have much control over that process... So, wether if it's by taking a pause-walk or strolling your insta/FB/Pinterest/TT Rabbit Hole for few minutes, this is the mental space for a healthy pause. I guess this all new to most of us and we need to just find our bearings in defining what's mindless doomscrolling for an hour (or while doing something else) and what is "chasing the Muse". ;)
Love your channel and it's diversity, from time planning to bullet journaling efficience.
Thank you so much!! And I ABSOLUTELY agree. I’m not trying to cut socials entirely. I just need a bit better control to make sure mindless wandering doesn’t turn into eternal doom scrolling 😂
I can relate to using social media to distract yourself from work 😅 I'd love to see in the future how you implemented changes or how your week was modified by this insight!
I definitely want to try tracking a couple of weeks too although I'm not gonna lie, I'm kinda scared of what the results could be lol I'm sure I'll feel called out with all the things I say I want to do in the week and then end up not doing... but I guess it would help with being more realistic and accurate when planning 🤔
Changed my life in 5 minuets
🥹
@@RachelleinTheory 🥰xoxo
I've done this several time in spare cousin pages etc. And the results are usually unpleasant 😂😂😂😂 I mostly do it to see where I can carve out extra time and usually find I can't unless I can somehow clone myself. I highly recommend it though from time to time as you have suggested. I like how you did a few weeks to find a sort of average too! Doing it every 6 months or so seems like a good time for me as sometimes things change enough for me to squeeze a bit in here and there. I would say though, definitely reduce social media scrolling, but don't cut out the little moments of relaxation altogether. Sometimes you need to actively spend time relaxing and it isn't lazy if the rest of the time you are busy and industrious! Half an hour in bed here and there isn't the end of the world if you are recharging or simply thinking. We all definitely need to work out how to lose years of our life on negative social media though (youtube is always positive for me!!❤). Thanks for another lovely video!
I find the categories especially valuable. I time track once a year (I really struggle with time blindness so it helps me as an activity to do), but I've never put it into categories!
Once a year is a great schedule to do this on!
I was procrastinating watching this video
🫡
The title grabbed me because this is something I've ben thinking of doing! I'm going to start tomorrow!
i really enjoyed this video and was so focused of the nail with a heart(so pretty!) i almost didn't catch it that all of them are Taylor's albums!! you're beautiful
This was a much needed video for me. I’m setting up my time tracking right now plan to start next Monday. Maybe this will help me organize my time better. Thanks for such a helpful video 😊
About the sleep time: i used to think I needed 9h too, but I recently realized that I just need more time to decompress/wake up before and after sleeping. I can't just go straight to bed and sleep, I need to tan the lights and get my brain into "sleep mode" which is just not thinking about something to do about an hour before the time at which I actually need to go to bed. And in the morning I can't just wake up at once and go do stuff, I need like 30 minutes just to wake up without feeling stressed out.
Only thing left is to manage to stop being on my phone during all those pre and post sleep moments
Unrelated: I'm new to your channel and I really like how you explain and analyze everything while staying realistic about it! You found a new subscriber
That was very insightful. I’m sure I don’t use my time wisely. Right now I am unable to do too much for physical health reasons. But I am keeping track of things I have to do during this time. I hope to keep tracking what has to be done afterward.
THIS WAS AMAZING OMG. I did this years ago after reading 168 Hours and am so excited to do it again and see how different life is.
Still in awe of every single video you put out. And you.
Thank you for sharing, I never thought I can do it on paper, now I think it's the best way to track.
would be interesting to see an update a few months from now with how these insights have changed your patterns (if at all!)
not me clicking 'watch later' and then being like...wait...I'm procrastinating watching (I'm just gonna watch now!)
So this was the result of your time tracking but how did you actually track your time? Was there an app? Did you actually stop what you were doing to notate how much time you spent on it? It seems like a good idea but I have no idea how you actually kept track of your time
"Live in partner"
i actually wanna try this, im so bad at even planning stuff so maybe this will help me learn to plan
I find it very interesting how other people spend their time so thank you for the insights. I scroll too much as well, but never summarized my daily hours into weekly hours. And you inspired me to track my time this week.
I've been turning off my alarm and going back to bed too. It's the worst, I can put my phone (also my alarm) completely across the room and I still crawl back into bed.
What's baffling me most is that I used that same technique effectively when I had a room half the size! Putting my phone closer doesn't help either, my brain is just done listening when it's half asleep 😫
Subscribed the second I saw you. Cannot wait for future videos
Omg 🥹 welcome to the channel and thank you!!!
I think I'm generally curious about what social media satisfies in us. If social media goes down when partner time goes up, maybe it'd be harder to substitute social media with tasks...
The Eras nails. Love it!
Very interesting! I also think that tracking (time, money, food... ) is something everyone should do, even just for a couple of weeks from time to time. It gives us awareness. ❤
P.s. I'm curious, is there a reason you call him "long term partner" and not just "partner"?
Also curious. Seeing some of the entries as dates has me wondering if they're in a polyamorous relationship.
Hi, I really enjoyed this break down and your analysis of "surprise" time spent as well as your goals to shift it. Here's my question? Have you been able to shift your time to align better with your goals (ie less social media, more space to enjoy time and be mindful). Wondering if it's worth it to take it a step further and think about WHY those chunks are being "time sucked" by those particular activities and how the habits can shift while still filling what your brain/body craves. For instance, time spent scrolling social media - perhaps disassociation from doing work, but maybe also just your brain needing a blank landing spot for a second before going to back into work-mode or shifting tasks. What else could be more beneficial (and not go off the rails time-wise) in those in-between moments but still give your brain a break? Same for staying in bed in the morning-maybe it's the body needing to ease into the day, or craves a quiet moment with your partner. You could A) mindset shift, just let it be and not feel guilty and make it part of "the plan" and then it becomes a lovely planned bit of your day-to-day or B) take those quiet moments in another space with a book or journal and leave the phone behind. I don't have any solutions or any opinion of right or wrong way to shift one's schedule and feel better about it. Honestly, I relate to ALL OF THIS, and just sort of working through the thoughts and ideas that came up while I watched the video and wondering if you've run into any of this and how you're feeling about your shift in hour consumption 3 months later. Thanks for making great videos! I find them very inspiring and motivating. Excuse me while I go jot this all down on my own time tracker haha.
Currently procrastinating on a deadline, will do this instead
I so need to do this for a few weeks - just to get an better idea of where the time goes. I am in week two of trying some low key time tracking/flow method for my 9 to 5 because I really struggle estimating how long routine work tasks actually take me. I am pretty sure I too will be horrified by my "phone time" - games/scrolling/general spacing out. Loved this video!
oooh i LOVE this video (ps love the eras nails!!!)
thank youuuuuuuuu
Hey this video was great! Thanks so much for making it and sharing it! I plan on time tracking to help me manage my time better.
I want to try this but I’m never aware of when I switch between things! Like, I will realize that at some point I stopped working and started procrastinating. Or at some point I stopped doing dishes and started putting away laundry. Or at some point I stopped doing emails and started watching UA-cam. But I’m usually not fully ‘awake’ when those changes happen so I just ‘wake up’ later and know it must have happened but not when.
You do not need to track time, you need time limited tasks approunch. Choose imporatenat tasks noty like Did i do yoga today? What to buy? and so on.
I think I need this because I always struggle with things that I don't understand and I always forgetting things that is why
loving the eras tour nails btw
i'll get depressed if i start time tracking cus i wasta so much time... literally watching this video procrastinating
The eras tour nails love themm
Thanks, this really helped me, I have take control of my time and this was very inspiring. I am going to try time tracking now that I watched this video!!
I’m scared what this might show for me but I think I’ll give it a try next week
Thanks for sharing! I have a couple questions: 1. How did you account for your time in the moment? Note time start/end or something else? Also, I feel you on social media time-do you know how you’re going to limit scrolling going forward? I’d love to hear ideas cuz I’m struggling with discipline here. I’m also curious if you’re social media time was in line with the weekly reports you got from your phone (if you’re phone does that every Sunday)
Hi Rachelle! I find your videos very interesting and helpful for so many people who struggle planning. I can't help but wonder if you could tell us what your MBTI personality type is ! ☺
interesting - I feel a pie chart would really help the audience (and maybe yourself) see/visualise the time (or bars for each day) - I'd exclude sleep aside from actually knowing the overall figure.. nice journal
This is so helpful - as is all your content! I first used a time monitor log in college and have gone back to it in the last few years in the form of vertical planners like the Cousin and now Sterling Ink. I think I’ll try coloring in my categories to get a better visual of my week.
it's kind of interesting that we get down when we're not working on our priorities, but those priorities directly contribute to other people not focusing on their priorities.... example: you were happy you spent so much time on youtube content creation and wanted to decrease your time mindlessly scrolling, but your content creation gives the algorithm more fodder to feed consumers, thereby enticing them to continue "wasting" their time on the platform. what i mean is, everyone wants to create and not scroll, but sharing your creations enables people to keep scrolling instead of creating.