We each have goals. What would it be like to accomplish them ? What would it be like to accomplish a lot of them ? Some people do. These are people with good time management.

It occurred to me that before I discuss exercise on this Wellness Wednesday blog, I should discuss the one thing my patients say they need before they can exercise: more time. We all have one lifetime of time. What matters is how we use it. Everyone knows this, so what is the problem ?

Most people are not fully aware of how they spend their own time.

They are not as factually familiar with how they spend each hour as the think they are. I have found that everyone thinks they’re busy, and everyone thinks they're active. People are less sure if they are efficient in their day. This is the territory I suggest we explore at this point in the New Year.

We are talking about time management. Have you ever had a class in this ? Few people have. It seems like it would be a good idea right at the beginning of high school. Or how about right now, in the blog post ?

Here is your mini class on time management, complete with some handouts and homework.

Obtain a notebook to document this process.
Record your present schedule, down to the hour, for one week. Include everything from housework to Facebook. Wear a watch all week so you will have realistic estimates of time.
Make a list of goals, for the week, month, quarter, year and five years.
Order the goals by priority.
Assess your week long log and see where you are misdirecting or wasting your time.
Realign your schedule with your priorities. Include a spot for 30 minutes of exercise 6 days per week.
Record what happens the next week and repeat.

Now this is a VERY simplified version of a time management class. It is, however, the essence of the process. It only works however, if you are absolutely truthful with yourself about how you spend you day’s time and absolutely truthful about what you really want.

I hear so much about not “ having enough time” to exercise, or to shop for healthy food, or to prepare healthy meals, that I decided to address it head on.

For those interested in more, there are really so many great resources on the web, from Lifehack.org, to books by Harvard Business Review.

Here is a one page handout on the subject. Click on the title below to download.

"Time Management" from the Stanford Center for Teaching and Learning

For extra credit, here is an awesome self assessment and time management tool from University of Kentucky. Click on the title to download.

"The Successful Person's Guide to Time Management"

This should be be printed, filled out and used.

Class is dismissed. Homework is due next week! I’d love to hear how you do.