by Alice Trimmer
For many of us, our lives took a dramatic shift last spring as our usual routines and activities were suddenly upended because of the pandemic. Some of us were flooded with plans of what we might do “now that we have more time.” We would learn a new language, listen to a different online opera each week, clear off the treadmill and actually use it. But maybe we had so many ideas we did not know where to start, or perhaps our psychological energy was exhausted from coping with so many changes in daily living. Now that several months have passed, it seemed like a good time to look at whether our use of time aligns with our most important priorities. On January 7, Kara Herman Fransted took us through some exercises to help us determine our personal priorities and evaluate how we are spending our waking hours to align with what is most important to us. As a person with a busy career at a financial firm, a mom of three young children, at the same time pursuing a graduate degree, Kara has worked out an approach to time management that has helped her keep on target with her many goals.
Kara began by pointing out that time is not a resource that we can create more of. If we want more time, we need to find it. Prior to analyzing our time usage, we need to clarify what, for me, are my highest priorities. The answer to this question is often not evident, because our priorities inevitably change over the course of our life. When Kara discusses this with her financial clients, she often breaks a sample life span into several stages, from the “go-go years”–post-college and early career development, all the way through to the “no-go years” when we have slowed down and might be more reliant on the help of others. If someone has a goal of international travel, for example, there are times when this is can typically be pursued more vigorously—before a person starts a family of their own, or after their career has reached a point where they have more flexibility and control over their time off. Which is all to say that yes, it can be possible to “have it all” but not all at once.
If we break up our day into larger tasks or activities that we normally do such as work, sleep, meals, we may see a certain number of hours “unaccounted for.” Kara showed us a graph of a fairly typical routine that left four hours unaccounted for. To dig deeper into this, she recommended recording what you actually do each day in 15-minute increments to help you uncover some pockets of time that could be better used. This exercise is rather daunting, but Kara pointed out that “if you choose to do hard things, you need a plan.” And it can pay off. For example, Kara realized that she spent a lot of time driving, so she started to use “car time” to listen to podcasts and talks connected to her graduate studies.
Kara had an abundance of tips and advice. In response to a question about finding the right mentor, she recommended putting together a “board of directors” rather than just one go-to person for everything. For example, the person who advises you on career development may not be of much help when it comes to navigating family life, and vice versa. She and her husband have developed a workbook to help others get started on self-reflection and analysis to determine their current priorities and to take action to find the time needed to pursue their most critical goals. She has kindly shared this workbook with us, and you can access it here to do the activities yourself or with a group of friends. If you missed Kara’s talk or would like to review it, a video of the session is here.
Photo by Jazmin Quaynor on Unsplash