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How Do You Spend Your Time? 13 record the times we arrive and leave work or whether we simply are using „punch the clock‰ as an idiom to describe the act of going to work. Logging time is not something unheard of in the library pro- fession. Every summer children around the country log the hours they spend reading as part of their participation in summer reading programs. Using a time log for three or more days will help you to gain a deeper understanding of your own time usage. Ongoing usage of a time log leads to even higher levels of understanding. Jot down (or enter text into the log on your computer, tablet, or phone) noting your activities during a day. For example, a typical start to a day may look like this: 6:30 am wake up, make/drink coffee, get dressed, etc. 7:00 am wake up son and focus on getting him fed, dressed, and ready for school 7:45 am drive son to school 8:00 am drop son off at school and drive to work 8:15 am handle work e-mails (write/reply) 9:00 am work on technology project 10:00 am meeting with strategic planning team As you keep your log, in addition to noting the tasks, it is also useful to note as much detail as possible about the things that use your time. For example, if during the 9:00 amă10:00 am project work time you receive a phone call that lasts 5 minutes, make a note of that. If dur- ing the 45 minutes you spend on e-mail, a coworker stops by your desk to have a conversation that lasts 10 minutes, then make a note of that, too. Interruptions and distractions have an impact on your ability to effectively manage your time. We will talk about this more later in the book. It can also be useful to note your energy level or emotions around different activities. For example, „10:00 amă11:30 am Worked on literacy program planning·really was in the zone!!‰ or „3:00ă3:30 Tried working on article for library newsletter, but was not feeling creative.‰ Depending upon your focus, you may want to keep a time log for work time only. You may want to keep a time log that covers both work and non-work time. A time log can be as simple as a pen-and-paper worksheet with ó-hour slots for entries. A web search for „time log‰ will result in numerous free templates that can be downloaded or you can use the one in this book.