The time audit that's helping me heal my burnout
I don't recommend doing what I am about to share with you all the time.
I don't recommend doing what I am about to share with you all the time. In all honesty, it is not much fun. Time auditing is basically recollecting how you spend your day and then recording it in your calendar. Similarly to journaling, you record what happened that day without further exploring your thoughts, feelings, and ideas.
This is the tool I had to turn to when I was feeling burnout, knowing that I had taken on too much and needed to cut out a big chunk of it.
Without going into details of how I ended up in burnout grips, you can read more about it here. I had this feeling that something was off. This was no longer sustainable, which is ridiculous, as I often write about productivity and time management.
Life has a weird way of slapping you in the face to offer a lesson or possible redirection. So, I took it.
But first, I needed to understand how I used my time and what I enjoyed. Similarly to Marie Kondo’s The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying1, it was time to tidy up my schedule.
To do that, I had to go through the not-so-fun exercise of time auditing for a couple of weeks.
If you want to learn specific, step-by-step instructions on conducting a time audit, consider reading this post. It will walk you through the process.
At the end of two weeks, my schedule resembled a collection of colours with no blank space, as if a blank space on a calendar was criminal.
![newsletter image of Taylor Swift newsletter image of Taylor Swift](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5294cf1f-f6b7-4857-9a0b-1335f086cd51.heic)
I often treat my calendar, as Swifty puts it, “But I’ve got a blank space, baby.
And I’ll write your name.2 I might as well fill it with more tasks, I guess.”
But not this time. This time, it was time for the proper spring clean, and it only happened that we were mid-spring.
“Does this spark joy?”Marie Kondo suggests assessing each material possession you own.
So, I did the same with my tasks. One by one.
After most of the NOs, I found a few YESes: writing, reading, focusing on my Substack, watching newly released movies in the cinema, and walking. All the YESes stayed, and all the NOs (apart from one) were erased.
It’s that simple. For those interested, the only thing that had to stay was my full-time job supporting my Substack work and, well, my living.
With everything else, the honest truth is as easy as erasing it. Many of us tell ourselves all kinds of stories: “I can’t,” " but you don’t understand my situation,” “It’s not that simple,” whatever it may be for you: X, Y, Z.
Remind yourself of this commonly-known truth — we all have limited time; spending it on mindless, soul-killing tasks is madness. Yes, there are some tasks you’ve got to keep — like I did — with my job. For other's commitments, you can find a creative way of simply letting them go.
After all, what’s the point of being productive when it makes you miserable?!
I’d recommend completing the time audit every so often, especially when your schedule seems to be running you instead of supporting your-busy-commitment-packed life. Which often or not, after slight review, does not bring the joy you deserve.
It only takes a slight review to remind yourself that most of the busy work does not bring you the joy you deserve.
Thank you for reading, as always. See you next Wednesday.
Jana
This is the sixth post out of 24 essays I plan to write as part of the Sparkle on Substack Essay Club to keep myself accountable and post regularly.
If life often gets in the way of your regular writing and you are a fellow Substacker (which many of you are), I'd recommend you join
’s ’s Essay Club.
Oh I love a time audit! I use them to keep myself on track, and colour-code so I know if I am spending enough time on productive activities or just email in-boxing all week.
Thanks, Jana! It doesn't sound like fun, but it does sound like something I would benefit from. I'll consider this.