Some of us are more educated than others. Some of us have more ambition and more drive than others. We don’t all have the same amount of money in the bank.

But when it comes to time, we are all playing by the same rules with no unfair advantage.

24 hours in a day, seven days in a week, 365 days in most years for a total of 8,760 hours in a year.

That’s how many hours you have, I have and everyone else has.

So the difference is in how we spend those hours and how we manage or rather mismanage our precious time.

We all know what needs to get done, be it in business or our personal lives.

We just don’t have the time. Or do we? We can’t fix the problem (find the time) until we identify the problem.

Where are the hours in the day going? Where are the time robbers?

How you are spending your time is something we have to first determine before we can free up time for what you know needs to get done.

Think you know how you are spending your day? Think again.

Yes, you may know the big picture such as how many patients you saw yesterday. But do you really know where every 15-minute block of time went from the time you got up in the morning until you laid your head on the pillow at night?

Most likely not.

Here’s a simple exercise that can, or rather will, change your life forever.

It’s something you may want your office staff to do as well. Or anyone else in your life who ‘just doesn’t have enough hours in the day’.

Just take a blank sheet of paper and divide it into 15-minute grid boxes.

Across the top of the sheet mark the days Sunday through Saturday. Down the left side margin, break up your day into 15-minute blocks of time from when you get up until you go to bed.

As an example, if you get up at 7 a.m. and go to bed at 11 p.m. you will have 7 columns across the top (days in the week) and 64 15-minute sections along the left side.

448 (64 times 7) 15-minute boxes of time. Okay, you may need two sheets of paper.

Now what you need to do is quite simple. For the next 2 weeks – 14 days – every 15 minutes record specifically what you did in the previous 15 minutes.

The more specific you are the more effective this exercise will be in changing your life forever.

Details, details, details. Write small if you have to but don’t generalize.

Don’t do anything until the 14 days of recording your activities in 15-minute blocks is done.

Now the fun, interesting and eye-opening part of the activity.

Go back and carefully read each of the 15-minute blocks.

Start grouping them together.

Okay, how many hours in a day or week did you: Watch TV … read a newspaper or magazine … commute to work … do paperwork … see patients … eat … socialize in the office and out … work on a hobby … spend time with a loved one … help your children with their homework?

Get the idea? Let’s group the top 15 to 20 activities and see the total time we are spending in each area.

Boy are you going to be surprised!

As a matter of fact, before you even start the recording process see if you can guess how you spend your 112 (7 a.m. to 11 p.m.) waking hours in a week.

Now compare your estimate to the real number.

See a difference? I guarantee you that you will. I don’t care who you are unless you are a 1 in 10,000 fluke you are ‘wasting’ anywhere from 20% to 50% of your time on either activities that could just as easily be done by someone else or those that really need not be done at all.

Many years ago I was taught that if someone else who is earning less per hour than you are could be doing what you are doing then they should be doing the chore not you.

Think about that for a minute.

Look at your two-week summary. What could others be doing for you? What could you bunch together and do more effectively to save time? What could simply be thrown overboard?

Personal note: When I realized (through the same exercise) that I was spending 2 hours per day watching the news learning nothing of value (even the weather forecast was wrong more times than not) and just getting depressed (about the world) or scared about a local fire or shooting, I came to the conclusion, that since I couldn’t manufacture more time, I could make better use of the two hours with all the “must do projects but ain’t got the time” list that was growing.

If I ever jettison the four daily newspapers I read along with the no less than 15 monthly magazines (and when it’s all over what have I learned, how will it improve my life or the life of my loved ones) I will have hours upon hours to work on my dreams … my goals … my day to day needs.

So the bad news is there are 24 hours in a day. Always has been. Always will be.

We all start with the same ball of clay (24 hours in a day).

You are wasting 20% to 50% of your waking hours.

You can find out how, when, where by doing the simple two-week exercise we just outlined.

You will then have time to do all the things you know need to get done. All the things you tell yourself would get done if you ‘only had the time’.

Or will they? Maybe a “lack of time” is just a smokescreen excuse.

We’ll find out very shortly.

If a day or two goes by and you haven’t started this time log tracking, then I think it’s time you had a good long hard talk with yourself to find out the real reason why you don’t want to tackle that all important “Things to Do” list.

Start today or you most likely never will.

P.S. If you would like information on our test drive new patient programs with a 100% money-back guarantee (if we don’t deliver) call us at 800 696 7788, ext. 248.

P.P.S. We now have a new program that pre-qualifies the patients we send you. They must have a treatable condition and insurance or a job.

Call for details at 800 696 7788, ext. 248.