Over the past week I’ve been monitoring my time religiously. I became inspired after listening to my favourite podcast one morning driving to practice. They had a guest (Rob Dyrdek) who eagerly elaborated on his obsession with optimising time, keeping a running tab on every minute of his day. The thought of maximal efficiency touched my obsessive nature, I had to test it out.

Tracking every minute was a stretch so I started with something more tangible. Recording the time I did things throughout the day; waking up, eating, training, writing, and recovering. After 3 days I saw a pattern and grouped things accordingly such as my morning routine, evening routine, training schedule and free time. Seeing these patterns were eye opening, some habits were on autopilot.

I noticed that being intentional with time laid the foundation to having a rewarding day, otherwise tiresome errands would creep up and plant themselves in my calendar. These were the days that got away, feeling as though 24 hours wasn’t enough. On the other hand, when the main thing was kept the main thing, everything was able to branch off and find its rightful place. Allocating time slots for when I would eat and fuel around training, rest and recover, read and write. My best days flowed from having a busy morning, having plenty of rest between lunch and the mid-afternoon, refuelling with another meal before training or a movement activity late in the afternoon. Days which peaked in the morning, resting in the middle and peaked again in the late afternoon set me up to be very productive.

A life hack I was able to put into practice was planning for tomorrow the night before which decluttered my thoughts and anxieties for the next day. My mind is naturally busy so having my clothes laid out, planning breakfast and leaving time assured that my day would get off to a good start. Establishing a sound morning routine set the precedent for the day ahead going on cruise control and not questioning if I had forgotten anything. The rest of the day could progress naturally.

Optimising my schedule empowered me to become efficient by keeping the promises I made to myself the night before. I gained energy as I had more cognitive power to focus on the tasks at hand. How would tracking your activities for a day, three days or a week help you? You will be astonished at just how much time seems to slip through your fingers if not allocated intentionally. A great place to start is finding consistency with your mornings and nights. Once you set a groove here, the rest will flow.