RPF-0063-Track_Your_Time_on_the_road
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00:00:30.100 | Welcome to the Radical Personal Finance Podcast. My name is Joshua Sheets, and I'm your host.
00:00:34.700 | Thank you for being here. This is a special episode of the show, recorded while I am away traveling.
00:00:40.500 | Just a very short essay on a concept that I think will be useful to you.
00:00:44.700 | If this is your first time listening to the show, feel free to listen to today's content.
00:00:48.900 | But if this doesn't do it for you, check back in the archives for some of our more normal format.
00:00:55.100 | And hopefully you'll find that interesting. This is a very unique format of the show.
00:01:01.300 | Today I'd like to share with you another concept that I think is important to think about.
00:01:06.900 | We recently talked about the importance of tracking your money,
00:01:10.700 | as that being the primary foundation upon which all good plans are built.
00:01:18.100 | Today I'd like to talk to you about the importance of tracking your time.
00:01:22.100 | If you want to see where a man's priorities are, look at where he spends his money and where he spends his time.
00:01:31.500 | So for any of us, regardless of what we say our priorities are,
00:01:37.500 | if we just simply look at our checkbook register, or whatever the equivalent of that is that you happen to employ,
00:01:45.300 | and also at our calendar, if our calendar has some information in it,
00:01:50.100 | you can see where our values and priorities will lie.
00:01:54.500 | Well if that's the case, then I think that we should have a budget for those things too.
00:01:58.100 | If we're going to budget our money, I think we should budget our time as well.
00:02:01.900 | And I view time and money as being very closely linked.
00:02:06.500 | In my mind, money primarily represents stored up time.
00:02:10.500 | After all, most of us have to spend time of some sort or another to create money.
00:02:14.700 | Hopefully we can sever that connection more and more as time goes on,
00:02:18.900 | but I'm still in the position of using time to create money.
00:02:22.500 | And if you look at the connection there, it's very strong.
00:02:26.300 | Money without time, of what value is it?
00:02:28.700 | If you have all the money in the bank, you can't enjoy the nice stuff that money can buy you if you don't have the time.
00:02:34.300 | So in budgeting, and even in financial planning,
00:02:36.700 | that's what we're constantly doing is making that trade-off between money and time, time and money, money and time.
00:02:42.700 | The resource that we have, that we all have, is time.
00:02:45.700 | The time is what we can use to invest, and then the money can be our return for some of that time,
00:02:51.700 | which then will allow us to buy freedom, which is ultimately control over our time.
00:02:57.300 | So I'd like to encourage you with something.
00:03:00.300 | If you've never tracked your time, or even if you have, I'd encourage you to track your time in some way.
00:03:07.300 | Few people track their money. Fewer people track their time.
00:03:12.300 | I would bet that if, I can't prove this, just a personal hunch,
00:03:16.700 | I would bet that tracking time would probably be more valuable than money.
00:03:23.700 | Now, I'm not going to prescribe for you a specific method of doing so.
00:03:27.700 | I've done so in various ways at different times, and I like to do this regularly.
00:03:32.700 | I'm just getting ready actually to do this again.
00:03:35.100 | I'm going to go through and start tracking, when I get back from my trip,
00:03:39.500 | I'm going to start tracking every hour of my day for a few weeks,
00:03:42.900 | because I just want to check to see whether I'm being productive with my time,
00:03:46.900 | whether I'm being focused, and what I'm using my time for.
00:03:50.500 | So I'm going to be doing a consistent tracking for a couple of weeks just to see,
00:03:54.700 | so I have an accurate idea of how many hours per week I'm spending on various projects.
00:04:01.500 | I've done this several times, and I've always found it to be helpful.
00:04:04.700 | And in the same way that tracking your money can be helpful in how you spend,
00:04:11.100 | in adjusting how you spend without necessarily making a big decision over changing your spending,
00:04:19.100 | I think it can be the same way tracking your time can be helpful.
00:04:22.100 | Another example, kind of a comparison, would be tracking the food that you eat.
00:04:27.300 | I've seen people talk about the value, if you were interested in dieting,
00:04:31.500 | just simply starting not by saying, "Here's what I'm going to eat, and here's what I'm not going to eat,"
00:04:36.500 | but just by being more aware of what you do eat,
00:04:40.300 | whether that is taking a picture of it or writing it down, keeping a log, something like that,
00:04:44.700 | and just simply forcing yourself to be fully honest and fill out that log
00:04:48.700 | or take those pictures in a complete way, not trying to adjust the results.
00:04:52.900 | And just the awareness can lead to behavior changes.
00:04:56.100 | And I think the same thing can be true in tracking money and in tracking time.
00:05:02.500 | A couple of the ways that I've done it over time, that I've tracked over time, that I've found helpful,
00:05:07.100 | and then a couple of other ideas that I've not tried but you might want to try.
00:05:11.300 | I have at times just kept a manual journal in a notebook, and I've found that to be a good method.
00:05:17.700 | If you are constantly moving or if you're in a place doing work that you can just write things down,
00:05:24.700 | I find it to be helpful just to write things down in a notebook.
00:05:28.700 | And you could do that either when you notice yourself switching to a new task,
00:05:32.500 | write down the time and what you were switching to,
00:05:35.300 | or if you wanted to do something where you wrote it down in a every 15-minute period.
00:05:40.500 | So, for example, you had a timer set on your phone for 15 minutes or 30 minutes or an hour,
00:05:44.700 | whatever you want to do, and you just simply make a quick note of what you're doing, that works out great.
00:05:50.700 | I've done that and enjoyed that.
00:05:52.700 | At one time, I used a system of spreadsheets where I would start the spreadsheet
00:05:57.700 | and I would just write in what I was doing at a time.
00:06:00.700 | These were some things I found online.
00:06:02.700 | It was a time tracker spreadsheet that was used for people who needed to track their time for project-based work.
00:06:08.700 | And I would just write it down, the time I started, the time I finished, and filled it in like a flow chart.
00:06:14.700 | Sometimes that worked for me. Sometimes I wanted to do something different.
00:06:18.700 | When I spent time mainly being at a computer, I enjoyed keeping just a simple Excel spreadsheet.
00:06:24.700 | And all I did was I had three columns.
00:06:26.700 | I had a start time, an end time, and a description.
00:06:29.700 | And what I would do is there is a function on Excel.
00:06:34.700 | I think it was "control-shift-semi-colon," but I could be mistaken about it.
00:06:38.700 | Maybe it was "control-shift-L." Google it.
00:06:41.700 | And there is a function, a shortcut, that would automatically insert the current time.
00:06:45.700 | So I just simply put the current time in, put the task in that I was working on,
00:06:49.700 | and then when I was done, I put the current time and put the next one in.
00:06:52.700 | And what I did at that time was I would connect my task to the time, and that worked out really well.
00:06:57.700 | Now, if you are on the computer a lot, maybe you would want to look for a software solution,
00:07:02.700 | something like RescueTime, I know is the most famous one, although I know there are others.
00:07:07.700 | And so RescueTime is one of those things that will track what programs are open on your computer.
00:07:12.700 | That may be helpful for you if you're tracking more specific jobs, things like that.
00:07:17.700 | I have tried tracking my sleep and different things with some smartphone apps.
00:07:24.700 | There are lots and lots of those out there, and they're more and more coming all the time.
00:07:28.700 | This is a big area of research.
00:07:30.700 | And I've also tried some of the apps on my phone that are designed for, again,
00:07:36.700 | people who are doing project-based consultants.
00:07:39.700 | I just put in whatever I'm doing, hit start, try to remember to hit stop.
00:07:43.700 | Pick something that works for you and try to commit to it for maybe a week, something like that.
00:07:50.700 | If you know you're going to get driven nuts by doing it every 15 minutes, don't do it every 15 minutes.
00:07:55.700 | Do it in hour chunks.
00:07:57.700 | We're not worried about every five minutes here.
00:07:59.700 | It's just valuable to get an idea of where is the time going, and then you can take a look at it,
00:08:02.700 | and you can judge it for yourself to see whether or not you're satisfied with it.
00:08:07.700 | Once you have that data, you'll be able to take that data,
00:08:10.700 | and you'll be able to do some other things with it.
00:08:12.700 | You'll be able to say, "How can I get maximum value out of that time?
00:08:15.700 | Am I getting maximum value out of that time?
00:08:18.700 | And is there a way that I can get more value out of it?"
00:08:22.700 | I won't go into a lot of examples.
00:08:24.700 | I'll just leave it there for now.
00:08:26.700 | So I'd encourage you, if you've never tracked your time, do it.
00:08:29.700 | I'm going to be doing it again, and I think it's a good idea for most of us to do maybe once a year,
00:08:35.700 | maybe twice a year, or any time we're embarking on a new stage of business,
00:08:40.700 | maybe a new project, and we need to see how things are going.
00:08:42.700 | If you've just taken on increased responsibilities at work--for example, that's where I'm at--
00:08:46.700 | is I'm trying to juggle more things than I've ever juggled before.
00:08:50.700 | So in that juggling, I want to make sure that I'm doing a good job,
00:08:53.700 | and I want to make sure that I have an idea of what's actually taking my time.
00:08:57.700 | If I'm going to outsource some task that I have, if I don't know how long I'm actually spending on it--
00:09:01.700 | I've made this mistake, and I've screwed this one up big time.
00:09:04.700 | I write down all the things that have annoyed me, but I didn't have good, accurate records of how long they were taking.
00:09:10.700 | And then I hired the work done, and then I found myself without that much of an impact for myself,
00:09:16.700 | and yet I had someone that wasn't being useful because they weren't fully utilized, and it didn't work.
00:09:24.700 | I experienced at one point--this is actually while I was working as a financial planner--
00:09:29.700 | I just felt completely overwhelmed, and I felt completely behind, so I hired this person to work for me.
00:09:34.700 | And I wanted them to come in and take some of the tasks off my plate, because I felt like, "Man, I can't get it all done."
00:09:41.700 | So I brought them in, and while I was training them, I just said, "Well, let's work on it together,
00:09:46.700 | and let me show you how I do these certain tasks." And I started doing them.
00:09:50.700 | Well, basically at the end of the first day--I think it was literally a day and a half of our working together--
00:09:55.700 | I had done all of the tasks that I was planning for them to do that I felt completely behind on,
00:10:01.700 | and I was basically caught up. And what I learned--I felt so dumb--but what I learned was that I hadn't--
00:10:08.700 | I didn't need--it wasn't a lack of time, it was a lack of focus.
00:10:12.700 | And the problem was I never could force myself to sit down and focus, because it was work I didn't particularly like doing.
00:10:18.700 | But in a day and a half, I was completely caught up, and I wound up having the person work for me
00:10:24.700 | on an ongoing period of time. But then I was just so underutilizing them as a resource,
00:10:29.700 | and I didn't have other things that I was ready to delegate.
00:10:32.700 | And so I wound up having to let them go simply because I didn't have the work.
00:10:37.700 | And I learned a lesson, though, and I recognized that sometimes maybe I need to just hire somebody
00:10:43.700 | to sit over my shoulder and ask me, "What are you doing, Joshua? What are you doing?"
00:10:47.700 | I'm easily distracted. So those are my thoughts on tracking your time.
00:10:51.700 | I would encourage you to try it if you haven't.
00:10:54.700 | Last thing I wanted to cover is--actually, I'm not talking about budgeting your time.
00:10:59.700 | Now, I think that budgeting your time is a valuable concept.
00:11:02.700 | And the one time where I've really experienced this really, really well is when I was in college
00:11:09.700 | and I was working my way out of debt at the time. And I was working a 40-hour-a-week job.
00:11:14.700 | I had 19 hours of scheduled class at college.
00:11:18.700 | And then I had commuting time, I had working time, and I had study time.
00:11:23.700 | And I knew the things that I needed to get done.
00:11:25.700 | Now, that was a busy semester. It was a very busy semester.
00:11:30.700 | But what I learned--now, at that time I was single, I had full control over my schedule,
00:11:34.700 | and I just learned how if I would budget my time in advance, I could make a big deal to me.
00:11:39.700 | Well, I think this is a key for all of us.
00:11:42.700 | And I've never--not since that time have I ever budgeted every hour of my week
00:11:46.700 | like I did at that point in time.
00:11:48.700 | But if I need more capacity, I need to budget my time more specifically.
00:11:52.700 | And so putting in the big things--this is the time that I'm going to be home with my family,
00:11:56.700 | this is the time that I'm going to be at the office,
00:11:59.700 | these meetings are the ones that are the most important.
00:12:02.700 | So budgeting time on a forward-looking basis is a very valuable thing and important.
00:12:07.700 | But maybe just like with money, it's a good idea to start with tracking the time.
00:12:11.700 | That's it for today. Thank you for listening. Be back with you tomorrow.
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