Using Your Time, Intentionally Begins with a Calendar Audit

It's that time of the year when I begin to reflect on the past year's successes and failures and the question, "What happened to all of my time?" I was listening to the Rachel Hollis podcast, and she suggested a Calendar Audit. Her words, "Sometimes we get so busy in your life that we never get to work on your life." Those words really made sense to me. How often do we say, "I'd like to have done that, but I was too busy?" Saying we are busy is almost like a heroic badge. I'd like to…but I'm busy. While we all have the same 24 hours in a day, why is it that sometimes our mindless wandering on TikTok or Facebook takes away our time for meeting our goals? So, I took Rachel Hollis's suggestion and began my calendar audit.

Rachel Hollis's concept of auditing your calendar stems from John Maxwell's calendar audit. John Maxwell suggests that leaders audit their calendars from the previous year to review what they did with their time. While the concept is simple, it takes some time, as you will check every day for 2023. What did you do on each particular day?

You will need a notebook for categorizing your days. You will create the following pages:  Page 1, write "Worth It." On page 2, you will write, "Waste of Time." On page three, Rachel Hollis suggests writing the heading "Self-Care." I created a page four with the heading, "White Space." White Space is based on Juliet Fundt's concept of creating space in your calendar to not do anything but think, hence "White Space."  Fundt's "White Space" concept is supposed to help you tap into your creative energy while preventing burnout. As you go through each day on your calendar, you will classify your days and list them under one of these headings.

Hollis suggested you block off at least four hours to complete the calendar audit. A quiet place, all of your old calendars, your phone for pictures (in case you can't find what you did on a specific date), electronic calendars, anything, or any place where you have kept the daily notations of your past year's appointments.

Although I didn't have "time" to do this as I felt too busy, I wanted to know how I spent my year and whether I had any self-care days? What were the days that I considered "Worth It?" What were the days that totally wasted my time?

I grabbed a notebook, Google Calendar, handwritten calendar, and iPhone to look through my pictures. She was correct. The total time I spent on my calendar audit was approximately four hours.

Although each day I spend traveling to work or working is what I believe to be worth it, I wanted my "Worth It" days to be those stand-out days that I will reflect on 5 years from now. I had 35 total "Worth It Days." Some of my "Worth It" days were our trip to South Africa to see my husband's family, spending a day at the zoo with my granddaughter, an Alabama Football game with friends, meeting my dear friend and her spouse for our annual couples dinner, a week that I spent with my sister, five days with my granddaughters, my dad's 80th birthday party, and a New Year's Eve party with my husband and a terrific longtime friend.

My "Waste of Time Days" were only three, ranging from prospective clients who were not my cup of tea, a wasted day at the DMV, and a visit with an arrogant attorney for subpar legal advice.

My self-care days were my most significant success. I listed 56 particular day's events as self-care. Although I like to count things that others may not consider as self-care, going to the dermatologist, gynecologist, or mammogram center, to me, medical care is a privilege. I also included time getting my nails done, haircuts, car detailing (which makes me feel good), and dental visits. I also included days when I visited my niece's baby showers and met friends for lunch. I am ashamed to say that I only had two days where I met friends for lunch. This is because I am usually only home for one day, a maximum of two per week. It is tough when you are, here we go with the word, "busy."

My "Worth It" day total was 256. My "Worth It" days were when I worked, traveled to work, traveled home for work, and spent the day packing or unpacking. Every day I focused on building my company, Map Educate" was worth it in my books.

For the page "White Space," I had zero items listed for White Space. In reflecting on the year, I cannot think of where I took one mindless day where I did not do something that I considered a day of "White Space." Pretty pathetic there.

After completing my calendar audit, Hollis suggests you look at your calendar and build a new calendar for 2024 based on what you want.   Although you may say that your wasted days did not cost anything, they cost your most valuable asset: "time and money." Hollis emphasized that you must be laser-focused and remove distractions if you want greatness.

To create your ideal calendar, ask yourself, "What does a perfect day look like?" Build a calendar around your "Yes, that was Worth It items." While I realize not every day can be a "worth it" day, as I know we have to put In the elbow grease to have a successful company or career, we have to intentionally build in days where we see that things are lacking. My total calendar days that I could account for were 347 days out of 365 days of the year. I had 18 days that I could not account for on my calendar, phone pics, or notes. Overall, I felt pretty good about the number of days that I could account for.

I had only two days that I met with friends for lunch. I must ask myself, am I so busy that I cannot schedule a monthly meet-up with a friend for lunch or dinner? I will keep my self-care and worth-it days and try to build on them. However, I will work on a monthly meet-up with a friend. I will pencil in days to meet with a friend for lunch or dinner to make this happen. Then, send a quick email to that friend, as I am the only person "busy." I will also strive for at least two days of "White Space." I would also like to schedule more self-care days that I combine with friends like going for a spa day. My husband and I did have one of these days in Hot Springs and we loved our day together. Spa Days would be a great way to connect with old friends.

This calendar audit was worth it as I not only relived the positive days that I spent over 2023 but also had the time to reflect on what goals I met and how I spent my days for 2023. Yearly, I plan to conduct a calendar audit. Please consider the calendar audit, as you may be surprised at how you spent your year, too. Being intentional with your calendar allows you to build a new calendar around your "Yes, it was worth it" items.