Think As Inc

THE PERSONAL AUDIT

April 29, 2010 on 1:49 am | In life coaching | No Comments

Daily life is a series of decisions:  how we spend our time, how we spend our money, how we focus our energy.  Time, money and energy are our key resources.  Yet, we may not realize how our daily decisions squander these precious resources little by little.  To get control over these daily decisions, it is helpful to audit how these resources are spent:

TIME AUDIT.  For at least a week (and longer is ideal), write down what you spend each half hour doing.  Don’t censor yourself; if you find yourself logging in many hours of television, don’t omit these to look good.  It is this insight that will help you manage your time better for the future.  After logging your activities, identify time-wasters and make a list of what else you’d rather be doing.  When you next find yourself tempted by one of the time-wasting activities, substitute an activity from your priority list instead.

MONEY AUDIT.  Some credit card companies provide an annual purchase summary, and you can see how much you spend in a variety of categories.  If you don’t get this summary, calculate it yourself for a few months’ worth of credit card statements.  Review past checks and categorize these expenses.  Spend a week logging in all cash purchases and categorize these expenses.  This will give you a picture of how you spend.  As with time, identify money drains and alternative priorities.  Before you buy anything again, ask yourself if it is a priority.

ENERGY AUDIT.  Using your time audit, assign each activity to the priority in your life that it supports.  For example, taking the kids to school would be a family activity.  Paying bills would be a finance activity.  Laundry would be a household activity.  After you categorize these activities, calculate how much time you’re spending on each priority.  Are your energies placed on the things that really matter?

Once you complete this personal audit, you will see how much power you have over your time, money and energy, and you will make conscious decisions that align these resources with what you really want.