This kind of follows on from last week’s post about habit tracking, but instead of tracking specific tasks or actions you simply track when you do things. This is one of my biggest takeaways from the therapy sessions and CBT that I worked through.
Its something that I had seen in different planners for a long time and was an early interest when I started bullet journaling. When I found the Passion Planner, I started time planning. Blocking out the different parts of the day that had a commitment. Visually, its a great way to see when you actually have free time and when you have time to do a couple of little things that are on the list.
But something I had seen a lot in bullet journals was recording how the day way spent. I tried it and struggled with it and in the end gave up completely on the whole idea.
However, it made sense when we completed a homework task as part of the therapy and CBT sessions I did. During the course of a week, we recorded on a simple timetable how our time was spent. The next session we then went through and assigned the different things to a group – necessary, routine, pleasurable. Just like that, it totally made sense and I could see exactly where my needs weren’t being met and where things were completely unbalanced.
The follow couple of months, this is something I drew up regularly in my bullet journal. I simple weekly timeline that I would colour during the week to show what I did each day and then use to make adjustments. When looking at it at the end of the week, I could see what colours dominated and what colours were lacking. It was a visual way of assessing the balance in your time. Too much of one and you’re out of balance which could have a detrimental effect on you mentally or physically.
Starting 2021, this is something I have come back to as part of focusing on balance in my life. I’m tracking my time in my Passion Planner Daily which is evolving as the month goes on. I draw a box around the printed hours on the time line so that it separates it from the main space. The day is planned out in advance with when I want to do things. At the end of the day or early next morning, I then go back and colour the different sections of the timeline to show how my time was spent.
My colour code is pretty much ingrained in my head now, so I know instantly what each colour means. One of the benefits of doing things in the Passion Planner daily is that I have space to add comments/notes on things alongside this form of tracking. If things didn’t go to plan, I might make a note of why. Its the space where I do my wellness planning and journaling so it really makes sense for me to have it all in one place. All with the main focus of keeping that balance between the important things and the fun things.
My Life Planned Out 