Thinking of starting a healthy new habit in your life but simply don’t have the time? Maybe you want to begin a new exercise program, or you’d like to read more, write more, or even spend time in meditation? Here’s one way you might be able to find some time.

During a personal growth workshop I once attended, we performed an exercise designed to show us how we spent our time on any given day. This would prove infinitely helpful in identifying unhelpful patterns and habits we wished to transform. (Otherwise known as, “Freeing up space for something new”)

The premise was simple; simply write down absolutely everything you do within a 24 hour period and then take the time to carefully review it. To say the least, the results are often eye opening. (Especially if I were to honestly calculate how much time I currently spend browsing social media)

To to offer a personal example, prior to August 2nd, 2010, I was a smoker. Each time I wanted to smoke a cigarette, I would go out onto my porch for at least 5 minutes and do not much else but smoke. After August 2nd, 2010, the craziest thing happened. My days got longer by about an hour. Suddenly, there was more time in the day because I broke a habit that took up my time. (Not to mention the health implications)

If you aren’t ready to track your minute by minute movements, you can at least begin to think about how you spend your time by making rough guesstimates over the course of a day or week.

Another benefit to this activity is that it may be helpful in quantifying your time to someone else. Spouse doesn’t understand what it takes to take care of the kids all day? Write it down.

“5 minutes to get the baby’s socks on without her repeatedly pulling them off”

“10 minutes scrubbing flung spaghetti off the wall”

“10 minutes refolding basket of clothes that our son decided to fling around the room.”