It all started when challenge master Kelly McCausey, from Love People & Make Money, invited us to read Gay Hendricks’ book, The Big Leap, which is all about how we often settle for living our lives in zones other than our Zone of Genius. In other words, how we limit ourselves, sometimes unconsciously, sometimes not.
Then we were to track how we were using our time for a minimum of five straight work days. What would we discover about our habits? Did we really know what we did in a day? How long certain tasks took to complete? How long we spent hanging out on social media sites like Facebook?
Were we consciously spending time engaged in our Zone of Genius activities? More importantly, if we weren’t, why not?
I got this. Piece of Cake.
Now I had already read The Big Leap numerous times. In fact, borrowed it from the library so often that I finally bought my own copy. I frequently recommend and even refer to that book in many of my workshops.
Plus, I often teach about productivity. Clients and followers know my favorite tool is a simple kitchen timer. And, I’ve been known to dabble with time-tracking in earnest, especially back in my dollars-for-hours days.
Even though I’d yet to find a time-tracking tool I truly liked in the past, there were some new ones to try. Certainly I could make myself use one consistently for a measly five days.
I got this, or so I thought.
The Simple Challenge begins…
The five days were easy-peasy. The time-tracking not so much, especially days one and two. My tracking, even with the help of the Toggl app, was disjointed and spotty. I wasn’t discovering anything I didn’t already know. And, frankly, didn’t expect to. I was annoyed, yet determined to finish this measly five day challenge.
Ummmm…
Okay, truth be told, my pride at winning Kelly’s big Stretch Yourself Challenge last September played a BIG part in my determination to finish this one. I’m mean, c’mon. SYC ran for a full month and was full of BIG hurdles and BIG incentives. It was wrought with sweat-inducing challenges for those willing to push themselves. And I was on a mission to prove myself that month! So push, PUSH, PUSH I did!
Now, this challenge? Well, I was determined to finish. Period.
Making It Over the Hump on Wednesday
Wednesday was full of surprise. And discoveries. See the next post for the rest of the story and see how I finished.
In the meantime, you can check out Kelly’s I Dare You to Track Challenge for yourself. It’s free and everything’s ready for you to challenge yourself. As I write this (during the Covid-19 pandemic), there are some pretty nifty rewards for finishing…ones I didn’t know about when I started, like the I Dare You to Email Challenge I’m doing next.
Years ago, I was in a bad relationship, dead-end job, and struggling in every aspect of life. I pushed myself through challenges that many would have thrown the towel in before it even began. Now, I have a wonderful marriage, career, and feel comfortable — but that creates a whole new set of challenges. Contentment set in and I am living in that zone rather than pushing into my Zone of Genius. I can’t wait to find out the rest of your story! I’ll be back via the UBC!
Sorry you had those past struggles but sounds like you’ve made a wonderful future tackling your challenges.
Thank you. I read The Big Leap years ago and needed the reminder.
It’s just one of those books that keeps on giving each time you read it.
Kelly put(s) on a great challenge! I am still tracking my time and getting better at it. I still get caught up in little things like changing up the timing when a client calls, or if I get distracted by an email notification.
Hey, Paul. Thanks for dropping by. Incidentally, what I discovered during the I Dare You to Track Challenge…and am working improve upon is helping me stay more aware and focused and productive now as we’ve just begun the April Ultimate Blog Challenge you host.
#blogboost
Challenges can be fun! Congratulations on winning one. Though I am not sure I want to track my time, it might be good to create a schedule, to make sure that everything that truly matters gets done.
Hi Jeanine. If you create a schedule and can stick to it, that’s a form of time tracking since you’d have reliable info to review and evaluate. Now, you’ve got me curious. Is there a particular reason you don’t want to track your time? Even for a short period?