One of the biggest issues in manifesting our dreams and goals is a lack of concrete vision. By lacking that vision, we allow the tasks and duties of daily living keep us from dedicating the quality time needed to bring our dreams to reality.
Many of us who want to go from “life A” (life now) to “life B” (dream life) are so busy with life A that we cannot even sit down to think about how life B would look.
A few years ago I did a wonderful “Time Mapping” exercise with a coach of mine, Christina Marie Kimball of Artful Thinking. She talked me through the Time Mapping exercise in detail and sent me away to work on it for the week. I found it so incredibly powerful that I sit down every November and put myself through the process again. Going through the exercise allows me to see the length of space between how I am spending my time now and how my current dream schedule (always changing!) would look.
I am happy to say that every year the space between Life A and Life B is closer and closer.
Time Mapping: How To Make Your Year Crazy Successful
Often, just seeing your life on paper starts your brain problem-solving ways to slowly shift you from A to B. And what can feel like overwhelm in your mind, becomes a sense of optimism for change when you document how you spend your time in full colour.
The Time Mapping Exercise
Take the Time Map PDF and print two copies. Get some brightly coloured pens and pencils and find a quiet 30 minutes that you can dedicate to this process.
Close your eyes and think about your current schedule. Not just your work schedule, but imagine all the roles you play during the week: parenting obligations, workouts, volunteering, date nights, church, and friendships. The list can be long because you probably wear a lot of hats!
Now assign a colour to each role or task you have and start to fill in your calendar. Be as specific. Leave as little white space as possible so that you can see how you are spending your time.
Color in the blocks thoroughly so that at a glance you can analyze a few things.
- Where is my calendar over-weighted?
- Where am I spending time doing something I don’t enjoy?
- Where are slots taken up that would be better spent on “dream building” activities?
- Where is there a color that should have more weight? (workouts, volunteering, quiet time, dream building activities)
- Am I spending the amount of time with family/spouse/friends that I want to be?
You get the idea. This first exercise is to get a deep sense of where you are. You will be surprised at the subtle immediate changes that will pop out to you right away that will lead you toward Life B.
The second half of the Time Mapping exercise is the fun part!
Take your blank piece of paper and place it in front of you. Put the other one to the side face down. Close your eyes. Spend at least five minutes thinking about your dream schedule. How do you REALLY want to spend your time? If there were no boundaries how would you dedicate each hour of your day? Perhaps there are a couple of new categories you want to add like, music lessons, hiking, or a Meet-Up group you have wanted to join. Now, open your eyes and start filling in the calendar. Avoid censoring yourself because “Johnny has football that night” or “I’ve always gone to church Sunday morning.” Let your deeper dreamer come through and show you how he/she really wants to be spending time. Make sure to color in the blocks fully and vibrantly. Now stand back and take a look. Make sure you did miss any “dream” ways you want to spending your time.
Now the reveal.
Put the two charts side by side. Life A is on the left, and Life B is on the right. I bet a couple of simple shifts you could make to move toward Life B present themselves quickly. Maybe you take a longer lunch and attend that yoga class once a week. Perhaps you take your boss up on working from home one day a week so you can attend that mid-day volunteer group you have been eyeing. Or maybe you can see a way to create a four-day work schedule so you can finally write that book during the Fridays you are now at home. The options are endless. The bigger changes you will need to make will take time. But now you might see some action steps you need to put in place in order to start moving in that direction. Now you can clearly “map” out a plan because you know what the end game looks like.
Make sure you keep an open mind throughout this whole process. Time Mapping can be some very powerful vision work. Your brain might struggle a little to dream big. Be sure to acknowledge that inner naysayer who says, “you can’t do that” and kindly tell them to go to Hades, you’re busy designing your life plan.
I’m giving away my time mapping exercise FREE! Grab yours here.
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63 Responses
Love this!!! Thanks for posting 🙂 I’m curious to see how my Life A and B look.
Awesome plan and a great tool to use to enjoy Life B; life is too short to be strictly focused on Life A which I need to turn my energy away from to live a richer happier life!
For sure, Ivonne. I think that every day!
I’m definitely going to give this a try. I have so many things that I need and want to do, but finding the energy and time for them all is really difficult sometimes.
I totally agree. So de- emotionalizing it by putting it on paper is a great way to get perspective.
I might try this. I could definitely benefit from being more organized.
I think we all do well with this kind of work, Meagan. it is just having the tools to facilitate it! I hope you took advantage of the download!
I love this idea. To really visualize how far–or close–you are to your goals is very motivating. I’ve been working hard to get to “Life B” and I’m thinking it’s time to remind myself how far I’ve come!
Yes! That is great, Eve! I think, using it as an exercise t show you how far you have come is just as valuable!
I really need to start doing this. I’m looking for ways to organize my life better.
THis is a god one. It doesn’t take that much time and it is really effective.
Time mapping is such a great activity! I need to do it, because the things I get stressed about the most is time and budgets.
It is a good way to step back and re-evaluate!
This a great post and with a free mapping sheet ??
Thanks, Josselyn! I had fun doing it!
Great idea, thank you for sharing! I really need to get more organised and start doing this – sometimes I can’t find the time to do a lot of things I planned and it feels like I’m wasting my time sometimes.
I feel like that so much and unless I keep on top of the vision it can really get away from me!
This seems like an easy enough way to help narrow down and organize my future goals. I am doing better at figuring out what I need to do now if I want something later and that’s been a long process to commit to.
I know. I always love the vision of running around a room picking up papers blowing around a room because of an open window instead of stopping to close the window! This is a lot like that!
I have never heard of Time Mapping, but I am so giving it a try. I never seem to have enough time this has to help:) Thanks
I know, right! This is a chance to step back and stop the insanity!
I love the idea of time mapping. I am striving to be organized and I think this will help me organize my time.
I love the exercise. It is always so revealing!
These are amazing tips! Time management is such an important skill to have!
I agree! It makes all the difference in success and meeting goals. Vision is everything.
What a cool idea. I never would have thought to try this. Would be extra useful for me at this time in my life actually!
I have found it to be really helpful!
Thanks, Amanda! I love the exercise too! It is actually fun to put on some music and really get into it.
And for creative people, mood vision board is the solution for map your goals!
Wow! What a cool exercise. I love the focus of putting them side-by-side to see what changes need to be made. Sometimes, all we have to do is see how something could be different and then we are motivated for that change.
Wow, I certainly need to try this! I feel like this would be beneficial for me.
will i give these a try, YES, and for the good mood seasons of celebrations this came at a very good moment for me.
I’ve never heard of time mapping, but now that I have, I really want to try it! I can see this helping me become more organized and confident in what I need to get done. I love how this allows you to visualize this as well.
I’ve been hearing more about time mapping lately and wanted to give it a go. Thanks for the PDFs!
Of course! It has been a popular one! 🙂
I definitely need to try using the PDF. Thanks!
Let me know how it goes for you, Chelsea!
thanks for sharing these great tips. I really needed some time management ideas
This is such a good place to start. I hope you find it helpful!
I’ve never heard of time mapping before. Sounds interesting.
It is! It is so revealing when you actually sit down and do it.
I love this concept! I have so many things going on and it’s hard to juggle them all! I feel like this could help me
It is very useful! I loved it the first time I did it.
Time mapping is something I have never heard of before. Unless I’m just behind the times. Will have to check into this closer, sounds really interesting.
What excellent information! I try to keep focus, but then….squirrel! sigh. Having a medically fragile child makes things even more exciting. I’m going to re-read this again, thanks!
Tammy
http://www.simplypreparing.com
I can see how that would be really hard, Tammy. This might really be a great grounding tool for you.
This is great! I need to really sit down and figure out where my time is going. Thank you for these steps!
It is shocking, actually. I was so surprised to see how out of balance the colours were for me!
Wow! What a cool concept! I hadn’t heard of Time-Mapping before but now I want to try it! You had me at colored pens – haha!
xoxo Lauren | Glitter & Grandeur
Ha ha! I know, right??? Me too!
Good idea! Thanks for the PDFs – makes it easier to try out!
You are welcome! I think I am going to do more of these. Seems like people find these pretty helpful!
This is literally how I stayed sane through my time in school! It made life a whole lot easier!
Awesome, Cameron. I used something like this but not so formal. It helps so much to see it on paper.
I really like this time mapping idea! I have so many goals that I want to reach in a few years. This tool looks like exactly what I need to help me visualize exactly where I want to go. Thank you for sharing!
It is a very concrete way of looking at things. I hope that you get the chance to try it out.
Love this idea, thank yo SO much for sharing it, I’ll be trying it for sure!
Awesome, Deanna. I am so glad that you found it to be helpful!
Wow, this is just what I needed. I’ve been feeling like my schedule is all over the place lately and this should help me get it closer to where I’d like it.
I love doing it when I feel like that. It is a great tool to pick up anytime and get grounded.
I’ve been hearing more and more about time mapping lately!! It seems so cool!! haha I may have to give it a try since I feel like I am sinking in my schedule!
It is a great tool for that!