Activity Log Tip and Feedback

When I woke up on Monday morning, I felt friction with my schedule that I haven't felt in a very long time. Since starting the Bubble Planner over three years ago, it seems that I've been able to cope with whatever comes my way even if the activity level goes way up.

So, I went back to a form that I haven't needed in some time -- The Activity Log (The Activity Log is included in both the Original and Big Bubble Planners). While recording the activities throughout the day, it quickly became clear why I was feeling friction. The amount of Administrative Time had increased. I consider Administrative Time anything that is not bringing me closer to my goals. It is different from a time waster in that it is something that is necessary just not value added on it's own. Administrative Activities are things like booking flights, completing expense reports, and sorting through non-productive e-mails.

While completing the form, it dawned on me that a quick way to analyze the results was to code the activities with colors (Red, Yellow, and Green or whatever you want) to determine whether it was a Time Waster, an Administrative Activity, or a Value Added Activity. Fortunately, I had very little Red, but the Yellow was more than a third of my day. Needless to say, I was shocked.

The good news is that I have diagnosed the issue and have given it a name. Now, I'm addressing the root causes and rapidly changing that ratio. Try it yourself and let me know if it works for you as well.

On another note, I have had a couple of people whom I highly respect tell me that someone mentioned the Bubble Planner and how much they love it. This is really gratifying. It's one thing when we hear from customers directly or from a blog reviewer; however, when we hear something completely unsolicited, it is quite touching. We are tremendously grateful for our customers and their amazing support for our products.

Take Inventory of Your Time

The hour glass is a powerful metaphor for time because it shows the finite nature of our lives. Think of the top as our future, the neck as our present, and the bottom as our past. When we start to see more sand at the bottom than the top, the decisions we make about today suddenly seem much more important. We develop a sense of urgency to accomplish things that we didn't have before.

Have you ever considered how short the pile of monthly calendars would be for the number of years that you have left? I'm not trying to be morbid, instead, I'm hoping to impress upon you the need to value your time and think of it as an asset. It is one of the only assets that you have that you can't replace. Once a day has passed, you can't get it back. This fact makes it essential to treat each day, minute, and moment as precious and meaningful. John Maxwell has an excellent piece called The Value of Time:

To know the value of one year - Ask the student who failed their final.
To know the value of one month - ask the mother of a premature baby.
To know the value of one week - ask the editor of a weekly magazine.
To know the value of one day - ask the wage earner with six children.
To know the value of one hour - ask the lovers who are waiting to meet.
To know the value of one minute - ask the person who missed the plane.
To know the value of one second - ask the person who survived the accident.
To know the value of one millisecond - ask the Olympic silver medalist

Just writing on this topic has caused me to stop (not for too long, though) and think about how I'm using my time. Am I focused on getting the most out of life?