Learning From Our Time Audit
So teach us to number our days
that we may get a heart of wisdom.—Ps. 90:12
How did you do with your time audit? Did you discover anything interesting?
Like I said, we’re doing this not to instill guilt to motivate you to change your ways. Beating yourself up doesn’t work. What you have (or haven’t) done this past week does not change your status as a child of God one iota.
Instead, as a child of God, we are on a journey towards becoming the saints our Father has created us to be. So let us approach this with the attitude of humility, asking Him to give you insight and help in understanding your ways and habits. If you’ve persevered with this task honestly and are willing to learn from it instead of just focusing on the ways it went wrong, it will be far more helpful.
So please—no guilt! No shame! Just be willing to learn.
Assess Your Findings
Let’s take a look. What can you discover? Use the following questions to help jog your thinking.
As we do this exercise, if ideas come to your mind on how to improve things or if you see areas that could use some change, jot that down. Don’t worry if nothing comes to mind, but if they do pop up, make a notation.
Waking: How do you wake up? What are your first thoughts and feelings as you gain consciousness? What do you do? Does how you wake up set the tone for the rest of your day? How? Do you find the day improves or gets worse as the hours pass?
Morning routine: Can you identify the key “must do’s” to help you start your day off well? What are they? Are you satisfied with the order they are in? Can they be reordered in a way that helps you cluster like tasks together and be more efficient?
Spiritual atmosphere: Where is your mind fixed most of the day? What plays on the “airwaves” of your mind as you go throughout the day? What influences your spiritual life most? Or are you not even aware of it?
Spiritual diet: How much time do you spend on spiritually focused activities or spiritual disciplines? What help the most to nourish and sustain your soul for the challenges and needs of the day?
Physical diet: How long does it take to prepare and eat meals? Are they always rushed? Do you have time to enjoy your food or the company? Or is it more of a fuel-stop?
Routine tasks: Are there tasks that you do every day that take a lot of time? Would it help to be able to do these more efficiently? Are there tasks that can be combined or done at the same time?
Lost time: Where do you waste time? What looks like it could be done at a better time?
Physical energy: Do you notice your energy levels throughout the day? When are you most energetic? When is it hard to get things done? When are you ready to “quit”?
Travel time or commute: How much time do you spend in the car on a regular basis? What is the pattern each day or week? Are you in the car for your own commitments or errands or are you driving someone else around?
Work time: What does your work consist of? Are there some kinds of work that require more focus and/or mental energy? Some that is more or less “mindless”? Some that involve working with others? How do you like to spend it?
Work and rest rhythms: Are you running behind and late or do you have margin in your days or week? Do you have any down time or breaks during your work day? What is your “go-to” activity of choice to wind down?
Family time: How do you interact with the people in your life? Do you view the people in your life as a task on your list or do you view your tasks as an opportunity to connect with them? Do you have time with your people simply to hang out, catch up, and build up—or is conversation limited to scheduling, coordinating, or factual exchanges?
Online time: What are your online patterns? When do you feel most tempted to be online? How do you feel when you’re not “connected”? Are you able to stop or do you find yourself on rabbit trails? How much time are you spending per day online (not just on your phone but on all devices)? How do you feel emotionally after a period of time online?
Evening time: Are you having a hard time stopping at the end of the day? What thoughts keeps you from ending your work? How are you feeling when you actually get to bed? How long does it take for you to fall asleep?
Other: Anything else you notice that is not on this list? What are some things that you do well, times of the day you love, enjoy, and reflect your greatest values? What are things you want to keep doing or improving upon?
Celebrate the Good
It is often easy in an exercise like this to focus on all the ways we have failed. However, my hunch is that there are likely things that you are doing well in.
Perhaps you’re very good at working out consistently or preparing healthy meals for yourself and your family. Maybe you’re good at making time for friends when they need you or being active in your children’s school. You might go on social media, but you strive to be purposefully God-honoring and encouraging in how you interact.
This takes eyes of discernment and faith. I’m not talking about spinning your sin to justify it. I’m not saying you cannot improve on what you are doing.
What I do want you to see is that God has already started doing good work in you. If you’re tracking with me in this series, then my guess is that you do have a desire to follow the Lord and use your time wisely for His purposes. What have you already been doing towards that end?
Let’s close this exercise by taking a moment to ask Him to help you identify those areas that you are doing well in and then celebrate! Yes, we have a lot to change, but this posture will help us have a positive perspective of growth.
Join me in our next post as we take our discoveries and start towards a path of change.
