Do you ever find yourself daydreaming, wishing you were anywhere else but where you are at the moment? Do you find yourself getting frustrated because you have been wanting to make healthier meals for yourself and your family but feel you don't have the time to make everything from scratch? I used to find myself wondering why there never seemed to be enough time to do the fun stuff. So how do we find the time when we only have 24 hours each day?

First determine your values. What things are most important to you? They can include love, passion, health, success, happiness, creativity, honesty, integrity, etc. List your top five values. Then rank them in order from first to fifth. Take a good look at where you placed your values on your list.

Now draw a circle. Divide the circle into parts based on how much time you want to spend on each of your selected values. If family is your most important value, then give family the largest segment of the pie. If success is second most important, give it the second largest percentage of the pie. Complete the rest of your circle by filling in each area in the same fashion. Stand back and take a look at your pie. Is it an accurate reflection of you? If someone were to look at your pie would it tell him or her about whom you are and what you like to do?

Let's draw another circle. Divide this circle into segments but this time each section of the pie represents how you actually spend your time. Divide the pieces into sizes based on how much time you spend per week completing that activity. Hint: Remember there are only 168 hours in a week. :o)

If you work eight hours a day (don't forget driving back and forth to work and lunch), multiply that time by the number of days you work per week. Typically at least one third of your circle is going to be work. After you include the percentage of time that you sleep, you will almost have two thirds of your circle filled.

Take a look at your finished circles. WOW! When I first did this, my graphs were very different from each other. I was definitely working more than I wanted to. This cut into other activities I wanted to participate in.

Another aspect to consider is that any difference between the way we want to live based on our values, and the way we actually live will produce stress. This can make us feel like we have less control in how we want to spend our time.

So what can you do to change this? Try combining activities. Recognize most of us work eight hours a day, now plan around that. If health and exercise are something important to you, find ways to exercise throughout the day at work. Maybe you could exercise at lunch, or you could take the stairs more often.

If spending time with your loved ones is important, look at some of the other activities you participate in. Are you volunteering for a local organization because giving back is important to you? Maybe you could involve your family. (If it is one of their core values. :o) ) Or maybe you can find a different way to give back to your community besides what you're already doing.

Until you really look at your life and see how you are distributing your time, it will be difficult to live your life in a way that most reflects you and your values. Take a look at those pie graphs and think up some great ways to live your life more balanced, and start doing what you really want to do. :o)

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