One of my greatest problems as a writer is ‘finding the time’. As if I popped it down somewhere and forgot where I put it, much like I do my keys and phone (several times a day).

The thing is time doesn’t go anywhere, we have the same twenty four hours everyday and yet some days can seem to fly and others can drag. I can have days where I feel wrecked by the end but also feel like I haven’t achieved anything. I can also have my favourite kind of days where I’m kicking goals and by the end of the day I’m able to relax because I’ve achieved so much.

One trick to ‘finding time’ is to map out where my time will be going on a routine week. I do this at the start of the year or when I feel like my days are starting to fill with ‘busy’ work.

How do I do this?

With the ‘Bern Eden Where Did My Time Go Timesheet’ of course! Probably need to work on the name but let’s go with it for now.

This is not anything special or complicated, it’s basically a spreadsheet broken up into half hour time slots. But by using this sheet I can work out how much sleep do I routinely want? How many hours a day can I write? Where will I do my marketing? How does life and other work fit in? And where can I have some fun and relaxation?

Once I’ve got the basic must dos in like: sleep, my day job, getting kids to school, exercise and walking the dog. I can start to work out where there are lots of lovely blank holes for me to write in. Turns out, there are always lots of lovely blank holes which means no excuses. And once these holes are filled with writing it means writing is a priority during that time. I can’t fill it with appointments or catch ups or even phone scrolling. That time has been booked and writing will be happening.

The other key to the Timesheet is not to fill it. I always make sure there is some white space so I can be flexible. I might have planned to write in the morning before work but someone was sick or there was an appointment or even just my alarm didn’t go off (it happens!) It’s always okay because I can switch it to a free space in the afternoon or elsewhere.

If doing something like this breaks you out in a rash I should point out the most important point…. It’s a guide. And it’s a guide that you are in charge of and can change or switch up or be flexible with at anytime.

If you’d like your own ‘Bern Eden Where Did My Time Go Timesheet’ (I’d love to call it the BEWDMTGT but it in no way works!) Click on down below.

Let me know how you go. Do you use any sort of time tracking? I’d love to hear if you ‘found’ some time you didn’t know you had.

Xx