5 Lessons from Time Tracking That Aren't What You'd Think EP 308

Best Laid Plans

Sarah Hart-Unger

Self-improvement, Education, Society & Culture, Personal Journals

4.9 • 854 Ratings

🗓️ 22 June 2026

⏱️ 22 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Sarah tracked her time for over 2 weeks (something she has struggled with in the past). What were her conclusions? Did she find 10 hours of free time that she didn't know she had? Will she continue for 10 years like her good friend and podcast cohost Laura Vanderkam? Listen to find out, and you can also visit the detailed show notes at theshubox.com! Episode Sponsors: IXL: Best Laid Plans listeners can get an exclusive 20% off IXL membership when they sign up today at ⁠https://www.ixl.com/plans⁠. Green Chef: Healthy and convenient meal kits and more! Visit ⁠greenchef.com/50bestlaid⁠ and use code 50bestlaid to get 50% off your first month, then 20% off for 2 months. PrepDish: Make your menu planning so much easier! Try it free for 2 weeks by visiting ⁠prepdish.com/plans Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Hello and welcome to Best Laid Plans.
0:11.2	This is your host, Sarah Hart Unger, and this is the podcast where we talk all things
0:15.2	planning and planning adjacent.
0:17.6	And today we are going to talk about time tracking. And in particular, how I've done the longest
0:24.9	stretch of time tracking I've done, maybe in my life, and some unexpected lessons that I have
0:30.6	learned from it. Yeah, that just aren't exactly the things I thought I might take away from this
0:35.9	practice. So you guys know I have been leaning in to tracking all the things I thought I might take away from this practice. So you guys know I have been leaning
0:39.0	in to tracking all the things in 2026. I've always enjoyed tracking various things, but this year
0:45.6	has been a year I've just managed to be more consistent with more of these things than I have
0:50.3	in the past. I'm not sure exactly why that is other than the fact that I feel like I do have
0:56.0	my kind of recording rituals where I sit down daily and look at the various things that I'm
1:01.1	tracking. I have them really well set into my routines and I'm doing them in a way that feels
1:05.6	very enjoyable. So that motivates me to keep going. But one thing I've tried and failed to track on many occasions
1:12.4	is time. Now, taking a step back here, some people are amazing at tracking their time and have
1:18.9	gotten such valuable insights from doing so. My podcasting partner, Laura Vandercam, who I
1:24.2	podcast with on Best of Both Worlds, and who is my really good friend in real life,
1:28.7	she has tracked her time personally for 10 years. Now, she also has made this part of her career
1:35.2	as she's a time management expert. Her latest book, Big Time, has actually a lot of lessons
1:40.3	around time tracking and is an excellent book overall if you haven't checked that out.
1:50.6	But I know Laura well enough to know that she would not keep doing something just, I don't know, just out of professional obligation or any sense of obligation. I believe in my heart.
1:55.0	She tracks time because she feels like it gives something back to her. It feels worthwhile
1:59.8	and it feels worth the time that she
	...

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