Evaluating Your Usage of Time

August 27th, 2020 News & Tips

Time is precious so it is important to know where you are investing it each day. Many people believe that they are spending their time wisely only to find out later with much evaluation that they have spent it recklessly. Discovering how you are actually spending your time can bring meaningful adjustments to your everyday activities. Now how are you going to do that? There is a very useful technique that you can use to determine how your time is spent so you can easily browse through it to audit your activities and actually make sensible changes. It is called a time log.

It works this way. You can find the time log sample sheet on the next page. List the top six to ten activities that you spend most of your time on. Use numbers in listing your activities. For example: working on the job (1), spending time with family (2), eating (3), sleeping (4), studying lessons (5), watching TV (6), chatting/browsing the internet (7), gym (8), etc.

Next step is to estimate the time you spend per week for each activity. Record it on your time log. Total each activity and there you can see how much time per week you’re spending on these activities. Then you can keep a time log and compare the time actually spent on each of these areas over a two-week period. This time you need to be more specific like jotting down the time spent for each activity a few times a day so you can monitor actual time spent. Write down the hours spent opposite the activity. Total the actual time spent per day and per week. After you do, you can easily see how your time was actually spent and you can start to make adjustments.

Evaluating time usage can help you spend more time on more sensible activities and make the most of your time as well. For example, how much are you actually spending on studying your lessons as compared to watching TV? If you think you’re spending more time on TV and less on studying, you can increase study time and lessen TV time next week. That way, you have made important changes that can affect your life significantly.

Success is just within reach but you must focus your energy on achieving it. And you can do that by spending your time wisely on things that matter most.

by Gladys Mae

Gladys Mae served as the General Manager and Head of Student Services at the International Career Institute (ICI) from 2010 to 2025. A graduate of the University of San Jose - Recoletos with a degree in Mass Communication (Broadcast Media), she brought exceptional communication and organisational strengths to the role. During her 15-year tenure at ICI, Gladys provided decisive leadership, ensured high-quality student support, and played a pivotal role in shaping a positive learning experience for thousands of students.Before joining ICI, Gladys built a diverse professional background through key positions in the banking and business process outsourcing sectors, giving her a strong foundation in customer service, operations management, and team leadership.