Data rules!  When it comes to being effective and efficient – nothing can take the place of having accurate data when making decisions.

Do you have enough time to get everything done each day? Most people say “no”!  In fact, 90% of my clients come to me because they feel overwhelmed by the amount of stuff on their plates.

Early in our coaching relationship, we will do the Magic 168 exercise.  Clients will write down everything they are currently doing and everything they want to do, and total the number of hours spent in each category each week. Then, they compare their number to 168, the number of hours in a week.

(In a rush? Feel free to quit reading this post and get your own Magic 168 Action Guide!)

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Often, the results are surprising!

In fact, just this week two clients had completely different results.

The similarities: Both felt guilty that they didn’t have enough time to get everything done. In fact, they both shared that they felt as if they “should” be better with their time, but they just couldn’t figure out how. They were stressed that part of their life was suffering. (For Sandy, it was quality time with her husband and young daughter. Josy felt that, although she was doing MANY things, she was dropping the ball in all areas of her life.)

The differences: Sandy’s “Magic” number was 193. Yes, she allocated 25 additional hours each week that were not physically possible. No wonder she felt stressed and guilty that she couldn’t get everything done.  It wasn’t humanly possible to get everything done!

Josy’s “Magic” number was 145.  She actually allocated 23 hours fewer than she had available each week, yet was still feeling like she didn’t have enough time.

Data gives options!  Data takes away the emotions and lays out the reality.  Both Sandy and Josy were busy all week – the data just clarified “how” busy!

What’s next?

Sandy now realizes that trying to save 15 minutes here or there isn’t going to be enough. (It’s like cutting a $0.25 coupon for bread and trying to use that savings to offset the cost of a $7000 hot tub! Just not going to happen!) Instead, she needs to do a major overhaul of her commitments and decide what really is important.

Josy realizes that she does “have” the time, however, she’s consistently “losing” it throughout the day. She focused on tracking her time for a week and realized she is easily distracted by phone calls and emails. In addition, the hours of 8 – 11 pm each night were “dead” time for her. She didn’t allocate “watching TV” when she chose how to spend her time, however, typically she was spending 3 hours each night watching TV – which was 21 additional hours.

Is Sandy better than Josy? Is Josy better than Sandy? Is watching TV bad? Is being distracted “normal”? Is trying to “save 15 minutes” a good strategy?

No judgment here!!!!  

It’s about getting the things done that YOU want to get done! To do that, you need to be clear on how you want to spend your time and how you are spending your time! Then, bridge the gap!  The Magic 168 Action Guide will help you become clear!

The Magic 168 exercise is SUCH an easy way to get the data for your own life. Once you have it, you can make customized changes to use your 168 hours each week to live the live you truly want to live!

The place to start – get your own Magic 168 Action Guide and start gathering data now!

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