What Does it Look Like to Number One Day?
Budgeted Time – Part 8.2
In planning for your day, I want to provide a few examples on how you can set the time-transactions in a single day. A day is easy to plan out because there’s a set 24 hours. Therefore, you have only 24 blocks to account for. The question then becomes, what time-transactions can we fit into these blocks? How can we build out a time-budget for one 24-hour day period? Let’s start with this list of ideas and by the way, this is my list; your list will look differently.
Exercise-Time
If exercising is important to you, put it in a block on your calendar. Start with exercise because usually that’s the first thing most people try to get out of their way early in the morning. If you don’t, you already know how easy it is not to exercise. This is why setting a time is so critical to your success.
Think-Time
Do you ever make room in your schedule to think? You may not realize this, but you are what you think you are. If you think very little, then you are very little. Oops, I probably should have said that differently.
My think-time is paired with my prayer time. Here is a reason why you need an hour or block of time so that you can think. Whatever is established within a person’s heart (mind) is what directs a person’s life. “As a man or a person thinks in his heart, so is he.” [1] This means, if you don’t take time to think, you don’t take time to become something greater. You see, setting time-blocks is bigger than just putting time on a schedule or setting a time-budget, it helps transform your life. That’s why we have these disciplines and think-time may be the most important. Set some time on your calendar to become the person you wish to become.
Prayer-Time / Prep-Time
Everyday you need time to prepare the day or for the day. Each of us has the time needed to take a bath, brush your teeth, and do the things that you need to do before you go off to tackle the world. Therefore add it to your calendar. I like to add in time for prayer as a part of preparing for the day. Don’t overlook or not account for time you always use, the same way you use it, everyday. In this way, you ensure you don’t overbook yourself and spend time you don’t have to spend.
Office-Time
This is your time to work. Add your office times to your calendar for the day. You’d be surprised at the number of people who leave this out because they leave it to their brain that this time is simply set. You really need to visualize this time in your time-budget. There are four blocks in the morning and four blocks in the afternoon, which leaves a gap for lunch. When you don’t visualize it this way, you’ll give nine hours and more to work. As we mentioned above, your thoughts dictate who you become. When you think you have nine hours to work, then you work for nine hours even when you can get the same work done in eight. Setting a plan for your office-time is necessary for working effectively and efficiently.
Lunch-Time
Most working people are not serious about their lunch block. Therefore he or she doesn’t use one to its fullest potential. We think of it as just lunch. You see, I put in a slot for lunch because I need that hour not only to eat, but to write. I spend a lot of time writing during my lunch breaks. What are you neglecting by not having a specific lunch-time? What could this hour afford you? Before you say, you don’t have time for lunch, you need to go back to “think-time.” More than likely a person who doesn’t have time for lunch doesn’t have a block on their schedule to think.
Coaching-Time
After normal work hours, we have a block of time scheduled to mentor people who like you would like to go to the next level. In order to fulfill your purpose it requires that you use your time better than the average person who’s not living to accomplish a purpose.
Reading/Reflecting-Time
If you wish to take your life to the next level, you must have a time to reflect and read. As we’ve mentioned earlier, place a block of time on your calendar just for this. Reading should be a part of your growth strategy. Reflecting on what’s happened and the results you’ve received today inspires growth.
Sleep-Time
Most people don’t do this and that’s because it’s normal. You need to set up an appointment on your calendar for sleep. The reason for this is because we don’t always go to bed at the same time due to varying scheduled activities which often dictate that we get to bed at varying times. Therefore as a part of your calendar schedule add the desired amount of sleep you wish to get. When you make this a part of your time-slots for the day, you know when the end of day activities should occur, as well as the start of activities for the next day.
Staple-Time
Using your list of your staple activities that you want to get into your day, go ahead and rotate those throughout each day of the week by adding them into the blocks of time that remain available. Learning to utilize your ideal time-slots gives you an edge over the rest. It returns control of your day to you as well as control of your life.
Weekend-Time vs. Weekday-Time
Weekend days and weekdays are different. Be okay with that. The activities you have during the week are much different than what you have on the weekend. That means the schedule is different, but this is why we have a schedule. Knowing the difference will help you maximize those days. In this way, we don’t confuse weekdays with weekends. As mentioned per Jim Rohn, “don’t play at work and don’t work at play.”
The goal of setting a time-budget for your day is so that you can have the best life that you can have. A life happens one day at a time. If you lose control of a day, you lose control of your life. If you don’t plan for yourself, no one else will. A person who doesn’t plan for a day, is a person who fails for that day. Let me say it in a different way. “A person who doesn’t have a plan, plans to fail.” If you don’t have a plan for your day, it’s okay. It will fail, really that’s not okay. I don’t want you to be a failure. In fact, we want you to be able to take not just this day to the next level, but everyday and that requires you having a plan for how you want to spend your 24-hour time-transactions.
Question: what items would you like to see in your 24-hour period that I have not been included in my list?
[1] Proverbs 23:7 NKJV, Bible.com, accessed November 22, 2022, https://www.bible.com/bible/114/PRO.23.7.NKJV
All Scripture references used by permission, see our Scripture copyrights.
