{"id":1661,"date":"2013-11-06T19:03:57","date_gmt":"2013-11-07T01:03:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jenniferlinnig.com\/wordpress\/?p=1661"},"modified":"2019-01-21T17:05:35","modified_gmt":"2019-01-21T23:05:35","slug":"time-map","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.jenniferlinnig.com\/wordpress\/2013\/11\/time-map\/","title":{"rendered":"Time Map"},"content":{"rendered":"

Wouldn\u2019t you like more time?\u00a0 I\u2019m not sure there are many people who would turn down the offer of more time.\u00a0 Do you have a list of things \u2013 even if it\u2019s just in your head \u2013 for the things you want to do in your spare time? \u201cSpare\u201d time usually only appears when some other obligation falls through unless we designate the time and priority for it.\u00a0 Are your bigger life goals floundering where you can\u2019t seem to move them forward?<\/p>\n

This is where a time map comes in \u2013 it is a visual depiction of how and where you want to spend your time, and hence your energy.\u00a0 We all have various roles we fill in our life\u00a0 – work, relationship, self, family, and so on.\u00a0 Hopefully these reflect our priorities and goals \u2013 although maybe not in the time they each get.<\/p>\n

In my post More Scheduling Options<\/a>, I shared:<\/p>\n

This is what Julie Morgenstern\u2019s refers to as a \u201cbudget of your day, week or month that balances your time between the various departments of your life.\u201d\u00a0 I think about it as a chunking of what we need to do and how it relates to our schedule \u2013 a combination of the roles we fill and the ways we can shape our schedules to fit our life and style.\u00a0 It\u2019s a visual guideline for how we want to use our time; usually done in broad strokes (though you design it as you want or need) and from here you can see where to add any additional appointments or tasks.\u00a0 Here are some sample time maps to see various ways you can design your own: Time Map Sample Booklet<\/a>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

A time map is a tool that some people recommend to bring order to your days \u2013 where it relates to your calendar yet isn\u2019t really about those specific appointments.\u00a0 It is all about you \u2013 this isn\u2019t a cookie-cutter solution or tool \u2013 you consider and then design it according to your life and needs.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s often designed as a week view where the columns are the days of the week and rows are time slots.\u00a0 Considering your priorities and goals, you put those into blocks of time in your time map.\u00a0 This isn\u2019t about scheduling every minute or every hour; it is about grouping things together in way that helps simplify and streamline things in order for you to focus on all those things that matter to you.\u00a0 Here\u2019s part of a blank time map template I made:<\/p>\n

\"sample

Time Map template<\/p><\/div>\n

You begin with all the concrete pieces \u2013 those various things you do consistently from day to day or week to week, i.e. your work schedule, bedtime and wake-up time, meals if they\u2019re regularly at x time, date night, and so on.\u00a0 What are the things you need as well as want to spend your time on?\u00a0 Pick a day, a time slot, and put it in.<\/p>\n

By creating your own time map, you are providing a structure to your time and schedule.\u00a0 This structure is to support you \u2013 not constrict or hamper \u2013 where you set aside time for all those things that take time and energy, and making sure that your priorities have time allocated for them as well.\u00a0\u00a0 It can offer you clear boundaries \u2013 \u201cnope, I can\u2019t meet with you that day, but I do have time here and here\u201d \u2013 so you protect your valuable time.\u00a0 It is there to remind you of the priorities and values you identified and the time you blocked out to focus on those.<\/p>\n

If something comes up unexpectedly, you can see what you might be sacrificing and then, if you want to switch things rather than give up your time on something you value. \u00a0Some people say that having their personal time map makes shifting things much easier; it requires less processing since it\u2019s all laid out in broad strokes.<\/p>\n

Since your time map is unique to you, it will likely take time figure out all the details.\u00a0 Do you already know clearly how you\u2019re using your time?\u00a0 Or how you want<\/i> to be using your time?\u00a0 Are you maximizing your priorities with your energy level?\u00a0 Did you leave in enough time for transitions, bathroom breaks, and other parts of life we don\u2019t always think about?\u00a0 Do you want to run errands all together (theoretically most efficient) or after certain appointments?\u00a0 How are your time estimates for accuracy \u2013 do you tend to under- or over- estimate how long things take you?<\/p>\n

We all have the same amount of time \u2013 168 hours a week before factoring in sleep.\u00a0 And Julie Morgenstern says that on average the time map should work about 80% of the time (and 100% is unrealistic).\u00a0 The point of a time map is that it can put you in control of your own schedule \u2013 you still have all those things you need to get done for work, home, and family \u2013 and you decide how and where to fit those pieces into your schedule.\u00a0 And you can adjust it as needed \u2013 this is about providing you with the outline of how you want to spend your time and in a way that makes sense for you \u2013 whether that\u2019s more or less detailed.\u00a0 It boils down to setting aside your time for the things that you\u2019ve identified as important \u2013 and hence feeling successful and in control of your time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Our schedules and calendars can feel like they\u2019re dictating our life \u2013 take control with a time map. You block out time for the goals and priorities of your life \u2013 visually budgeting the limited time of each day and week that we all face.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[10,8,18,5,9,22,15],"class_list":["post-1661","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-timemanagement","tag-behavior","tag-discipline","tag-goals","tag-household","tag-motivation","tag-productivity","tag-resources"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7p82c-qN","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.jenniferlinnig.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1661","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.jenniferlinnig.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.jenniferlinnig.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.jenniferlinnig.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.jenniferlinnig.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1661"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"http:\/\/www.jenniferlinnig.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1661\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2358,"href":"http:\/\/www.jenniferlinnig.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1661\/revisions\/2358"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.jenniferlinnig.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1661"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.jenniferlinnig.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1661"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.jenniferlinnig.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1661"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}