168 Hours: You Have More Time Than You Think

by Laura Vanderkam

Classifying Your Time into Categories After you complete the time log at the end of Chapter 1, go through and put the entries into categories. Some of the most common ones include personal care (including sleep), household activities, purchasing goods and services, caring for or helping household members, working and work-related activities, leisure (including TV), exercise, and “other,” though you are free to use your own. Record your daily and weekly totals, filling in the major categories that are relevant to you. Daily Totals: Weekly Totals: Subcategories You can use the space below to break the major categories into subcategories. For instance, child care can be separated into physical care, playing, education, and reading. Housework can be divided into laundry, food prep, house cleaning, lawn work, and so on. Work can also be divided into different activities (phone calls, meetings, presentations, e-mail, research, fighting fires, or whatever you happen to do). The List of 100 Dreams What would you like to be doing in your 168 hours? Make a list of as many activities as possible that you’d like to try or accomplish during your life. Cross off the ones you’ve done, and note how they made you feel. Don’t let the size of the page restrict you. Make the list as long as you want. Your Core Competencies After trying enough different activities, and looking back through your life, you may start to discover certain themes. Answer these two questions: What do I do best, that ...