FUN SHEET

MODULE 1: LESSON 3

There’s Always Time for What’s

Most Important

“You have what it takes to transform yourself from a passive

onlooker to a powerful creator of your destiny.”

— MARIE FORLEO

Lesson Recap
The goal of this Fun Sheet is to inspire you to shed the dysfunctional Time
Stress belief: “There’s never enough time,” and fully embrace the Time Genius
belief: “There’s always time for what’s most important.”

• While we can’t control the cultural narrative, as Time Geniuses we can

and must take back control of our own story. Because constantly saying,
“I never have enough time,” leads to the feeling and experience of never
having enough time. It’s the core dysfunctional belief of the Time Stress
paradigm.

• The solution is to embrace this foundational Time Genius principle:

There’s always time for what’s most important.

• Math can help us release the destructive idea that we never have
enough time: We all get 168 hours a week, which is all we need to build a
meaningful, joyful life.

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• As Time Geniuses, we ask ourselves, “Where are my 168 hours currently

going?” We want this data so we can design how we spend our time,
rather than allowing it to get spent by default.

• Everything you say yes to means you’re saying no to something else.

That’s called “opportunity cost.”

• You don’t necessarily need hours and hours of uninterrupted free time in
order to start seeing progress on goals. Just 30 minutes a day, over the
course of a year, adds up to 182.5 hours or 22 full 8-hour workdays.

• The “blank canvas” approach inspires you to design your ideal week like
a Time Artist and helps you turn the life you have into the life you want.
Use your imagination to set a vision to work towards.

How to Use This Fun Sheet:

1) This Fun Sheet is editable, which means you can type your
work right into the document and save your changes. You’ll
need a PDF reader to do this. We recommend Adobe Acrobat
Reader (grab it for free here).

2) Open your Fun Sheet in Adobe Acrobat Reader before you

begin. Type a few words into a field, hit save, close the PDF,
then reopen to check that your work has officially been saved.

3) Just because you can save your work in the PDF doesn’t mean
you have to. You can also use this as a guide for writing in your
journal or print it out and complete it by hand!

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I N S I G H T I N TO AC T I O N

The following exercises will 1) help you get a more accurate picture of how
you’re currently spending your time, 2) identify the areas of opportunity
cost in your life, and 3) encourage you to design your ideal life by using your
imagination and a blank canvas.

An important note before we begin: Please do not skip the time tracking
exercise. Do not assume you know precisely where your time is going,
especially if you struggle with feeling like you don’t have enough of it.
Remember, research from “Father Time” showed that we’re generally terrible
at guesstimating where our time goes.

If you feel resistance, that’s normal and okay. But don’t skip this work! We all
learn differently, so choose the time tracking approach that you’ll actually get
done.

The goal is to empower you to reclaim your 168 hours as building blocks for
your joyful and meaningful life. If you discover that all your hours aren’t going
to the places that are most important to you, remember — that’s good news!
Because then you’ll have the insight you need to start making a change.

If you find this Fun Sheet challenging, that’s okay. Growth is never easy. You’re
strong and capable. Let’s dive in!

Exercise 1. Do A Time Audit

This exercise is non-negotiable, especially if you don’t feel you have enough
time.

Remember, we all get 168 hours every week.

24 hours X 7 days = 168 hours each week

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In this exercise, you’re going to get playfully curious about the question,
“Where are my 168 hours going?” Because if you want to change how you use
your time, you need to know where your hours are currently going.

Don’t let this exercise make you feel bad or guilty or inadequate. As a creative
scientist, you want the data!

There’s no “best” way to audit and track your time. We’re going to share two
approaches. Please choose one and do it to the best of your ability. Here are
some key points to remember as it relates to tracking your time.

Time Audit Guidelines

• Yes, tracking your time is tedious. But it’s hard to manage what you don’t
measure. Get the data you need, Time Genius! The benefit of seeing
where your time actually goes will far outweigh the effort.

• Do your best not to change your behavior to “look better” to yourself on

paper (though we all naturally perform better if we’re being observed!).
Record what you typically do without embellishment or judgment.

• Ideally, track your time for a full seven days — including weekdays and
weekends. That said, three days of time tracking is the absolute minimum.
Commit to at least three days of full-time tracking, starting now.

Option 1: The Journalistic Approach

This approach is recommended as you’ll get the most accurate data on how
you spend your time!

For the next few days (anywhere from 3-7), write down every single thing
you do from the moment you wake up to the moment you go to sleep in a
simple notebook or journal. Or, you can record it in a spreadsheet.

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→ We’ve created sample Time Tracking templates for you here.

Do your best to leave no minute unaccounted for. Be an obsessive, note-

taking Time Genius for this time tracking period. Grab a notebook and track
your time in 15, 30, or 60-minute increments — whatever helps you capture
the most accurate snapshot of what you do and how long it takes. If you want
to then transfer that information to a spreadsheet to make it easier to read,
that’s wonderful.

Include things like lunch breaks, text threads with family, eating hummus over
the sink, walking the dog, watering the plants, going to the post office for
stamps, grabbing a coffee around the corner, and tweezing stray hairs.

The goal here is to gain an accurate account of how you currently spend your
168 hours each week — including how frequently you switch tasks, what you
bounce between, and how long you spend in the different areas of your life.

Option 2: The Detailed Guesstimate

While we don’t recommend guessing, taking the time to stop, think, and write
down what you do and how long you think it takes is a lot more helpful than
not giving this any thought at all.

Right now, sit down and map out all of your activities on a chart, including
how long you believe it takes you, and see how close you get to 168 hours per
week. The challenge with this approach is that you’re guessing and working
from memory — so it won’t be as accurate or complete as the journalistic
approach.

Give it your best effort and tally up everything you can think of. You may
discover a few “missing” hours if you don’t reach a full 168 hours. If this is the
case, great! You can start intentionally devoting those “found hours” to high-
value activities that matter to you.

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Here’s an example of a guesstimated chart:

Getting kids HOURS

HOURS PER
1 OF ready for school DAY X
5 DAYS = 5 PER
WEEK

HOURS
HOURS PER
8 OF
Work DAY X
5 DAYS = 40 PER
WEEK

HOURS
HOURS PER
1 OF
Spin class
DAY X
3 DAYS = 3 PER
WEEK

HOURS
HOURS PER
.5 OF
Reading DAY X
7 DAYS = 3.5 PER
WEEK

HOURS
HOURS Bedtime routine PER
.5 OF with kids DAY X
7 DAYS = 3.5 PER
WEEK

HOURS
HOURS Showering, PER
.5 7 DAYS = 3.5 PER
OF getting ready, etc DAY X
WEEK

HOURS
HOURS Family time PER
1.5 5 DAYS = 7.5 PER
OF with kids DAY X WEEK

HOURS
HOURS Messing around PER
1.5 7 DAYS = 10.5 PER
OF on my phone DAY X
WEEK

HOURS
HOURS PER
8 OF Sleep DAY X
7 DAYS = 56 PER
WEEK

HOURS
HOURS Cleanup, house PER
1 7 DAYS = 7 PER
OF tidying, laundry, etc. DAY X
WEEK

Errands, doctor’s HOURS

HOURS PER
5 OF
appointments, DAY X 1 DAYS = 5 PER
library, etc WEEK

HOURS
HOURS PER
1 OF
Netflix DAY X 7 DAYS = 7 PER
WEEK

Hanging out with HOURS

HOURS PER
.5 OF my partner DAY X 7 DAYS = 3.5 PER
WEEK

TOTAL HOURS OF ACTIVITY PER WEEK = 155

TOTAL HOURS IN A WEEK = 168

HOURS AVAILABLE = 13

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N O T E : If your activities add up to more than 168 hours — well, that defies
the laws of physics . In that case, we’d strongly suggest you take the
journalistic approach for at least three days to get a more accurate picture of
how you actually spend your time. Awareness is the first step to change!

YOUR turn!

HOURS
HOURS PER
DAYS = PER
OF DAY X
WEEK

HOURS
HOURS PER
DAYS = PER
OF DAY X
WEEK

HOURS
HOURS PER
DAYS = PER
OF DAY X
WEEK

HOURS
HOURS PER
DAYS = PER
OF DAY X
WEEK

HOURS
HOURS PER DAYS = PER
OF DAY X
WEEK

HOURS
HOURS PER
DAYS = PER
OF DAY X
WEEK

HOURS
HOURS PER
DAYS = PER
OF DAY X
WEEK

HOURS
HOURS PER
DAYS = PER
OF DAY X
WEEK

HOURS
HOURS PER
DAYS = PER
OF DAY X
WEEK

HOURS
HOURS PER
DAYS = PER
OF DAY X
WEEK

HOURS
HOURS PER
DAYS = PER
OF DAY X
WEEK

HOURS
HOURS PER
DAYS = PER
OF DAY X
WEEK

TOTAL HOURS OF ACTIVITY PER WEEK = _____

TOTAL HOURS IN A WEEK = _____

HOURS AVAILABLE = _____

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N O T E O N P H O N E S : It’s easy to underestimate just how much time we

spend on our phones. If you have an iPhone, go into your settings and look at
Screen Time. Click on “See All Activity” and you’ll get a detailed report of how
much time you spend on each app, as well as how many “pick ups” you’ve
done that day.

It’s also important to recognize that not all phone use is bad. Personally, I
spend anywhere from 5-20 minutes a day on language learning apps, 20-
25 minutes a day using my meditation timer, and I can sometimes read
for anywhere between 60-120 minutes on my Kindle app. That easily can
translate into a few hours per day “on my phone,” all of which is intentional
and satisfying time spent.

PRO TIP:

Take notice of the apps you tend to open in the in-

between moments, like when you’re waiting for the kettle
to boil, or when your partner is giving your kid a bath,
or when you’re standing in line in the grocery store.
Is looking at Pinterest, Instagram, or TikTok for 5-10
minutes adding joy to your life? Or would those 5-10
minutes be better spent daydreaming? Looking out at
nature? Breathing and thinking?

Checking your phone every spare moment can create the time perception
that you’re always busy and there’s no space to breathe. So even if, in theory,
5 minutes on IG while you’re waiting to heat up your food isn’t horrible, ask
yourself, is that unconscious habit creating the emotional experience of time
that you most want?

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Now that you have the time tracking data you need, we think you’ll find
Exercise #2 very illuminating...

Exercise 2. Understand Opportunity Cost

Every choice we make about our time has a price. Everything you say yes to
means saying no to something else. That’s called “opportunity cost” and it’s a
critical concept to embrace as a Time Genius.

To illustrate this, here’s the chart we talked about in the video, which I originally
created for my book, Everything is Figureoutable.

You Can Get With This, Or You Can Get With That

W H AT YO U
T O D AY ’ S
T O TA L T I M E COULD’VE
UNCONSCIOUS
SPENT PER YEAR ACCOMPLISHED
COST
INSTEAD

30 mins a day messing Total fitness makeover

182.5 hrs a year or
around on your phone/ A brand new website
22 full 8-hr workdays
social media Learned how to meditate

Wrote a first draft of

your book
60 mins a day on news,
365 hrs a year or Launched a new revenue
email, and celebrity
45 full 8-hr workdays stream
gossip
Secured a raise or career
change

Speak conversational
Italian
90 mins a day 547.5 hrs a year or
Finished your degree
watching TV 68 full 8-hr workdays
Launched a profitable
side business

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Now we’re going to look at YOUR unconscious costs and shine a spotlight on
the opportunity. Look back at your time tracking data from exercise 1.

S T E P 1 : What’s at least one low-value activity that’s currently not worth

your time that you do on a regular basis? Consuming news, social media,
email, or even TV are great places to look! So are chores that you can
delegate or hire out.

S T E P 2 : Add up the total time you spend per year on that activity.
(e.g. 30 mins/day X 365 days = 10,950 minutes ÷ 60 minutes = 182.5 hours/year)

S T E P 3 : What’s one goal or activity that, if you did it for 30, 60, or
90-minutes a day, could spark a breakthrough in your well-being, health,
happiness, or career?

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Of course, you can do this with more than one activity! Here’s a blank chart
for you to experiment and play with.

T O D AY ’ S W H AT I C O U L D
UNCONSCIOUS T O TA L T I M E ACCOMPLISH
COST SPENT PER YEAR W I T H T H AT T I M E
[low-value activity] INSTEAD

_______ hrs a year or

_______ full 8-hr work days

_______ hrs a year or

_______ full 8-hr work days

_______ hrs a year or

_______ full 8-hr work days

Pretty motivating, huh?

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Exercise 3. Design Your Ideal Week As A

Time Artist
Get excited, because now you get to be not just a Time Genius, but a Time Artist,
too!

Below, you’ll find two different blank canvas approaches to help you fire up
your imagination and intentionally design your ideal week: a spreadsheet and a
freewriting exercise. Choose the one that suits you best, or experiment with both.

A few guidelines:

1. Create an inspiring vision for how you want to spend your time. Remember,
this is your time and your life! Fire up your imagination, tell the truth about
what’s in your heart, and create a vision for your life that’s so compelling, so
joy-filled, and so aligned with your values that you’re motivated to make the
changes you need.

2. Don’t get bogged down with minutiae just yet. Let’s temporarily set aside
things like eating, laundry, and food shopping. Don’t worry, we’ll dive deeper
into the nitty-gritty details of scheduling in Module 3.

3. Embrace the size of your canvas. That’s 168 hours a week. Remember,
constraints are necessary for creativity!

4. Start with sleep. Don’t skimp here. If it’s 8 hours a night, or 56 hours a week,
that still leaves 112 hours to design your ideal week.

5. Account for work. If you typically have a 40-hour workweek, that leaves 72
hours left per week. Yes, we sometimes work more and less. Use an average
that feels most accurate for this stage of your life, or an ideal amount you want
to move towards.

6. Ask yourself: After sleep and work, how would I like to spend the rest of my
time? What does my heart want to put into those precious remaining blocks?
Here are some examples/thought starters:

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• Work on my novel: 1 hr/day

• Meditate: 30mins/day

• Quality time with my daughter: 1hr/day

• Practice Italian: 20mins/day

• Date night with my partner: 3 hrs/1x wk

• Boxing class: 1 hr/3x wk

• Walk in nature: 2 hrs/wk

• Nap: 20mins/3x wk

• Lunch with friends: 2 hrs/1x wk

How you design your time masterpiece is completely up to you. Our one
suggestion is to prioritize self-care. Build that time in first, after sleep.
Remember, YOU are your most important asset in business and life! Your
mind, body, and soul need care and attention to function optimally.

I M P O R TA N T N O T E :

While this exercise is intended to be fun and inspiring,

it’s not necessarily easy.

Most of us have layers of deeply entrenched thinking and behavioral habits

about how things “have to be,” plus stacks of cultural and familial patterns in
place. In a world where so many of us have inherited the disease to please, we
forget that we get to write the rules of our life. We alone have the power to
change those rules and take back control of how we spend our time.

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Research has shown that up to 40% of our lives are lived on autopilot. This
isn’t always a negative thing, as our habitual ways of thinking and behaving
allow us to conserve precious cognitive fuel. But you’re in this program to
investigate your habits, change what no longer serves you, and reclaim
control over your time and choices.

Using our heart’s desire and a blank canvas is how we start. We use our
imagination and envision a better future. This is how we turn the life we have
into the life we want. By intentional, deliberate design.

Here are your tools. It’s time to create your masterpiece!

Option 1: The (Almost) Blank Spreadsheet

If you’re a spreadsheet lover, an almost blank spreadsheet can help you

visualize how you’d like to spend your 168 hours each week.

We created a sample Google spreadsheet for you to experiment with, which

has 8 hours of sleep accounted for each day (hence the “almost”), leaving
112 one-hour time blocks to fill in with the elements that will comprise your
ideal life.

→ Your sample Blank Canvas spreadsheet is the 3rd tab.

If you like working with spreadsheets, make a copy of this sheet using the
instructions at the top and experiment filling in those blocks with sleep, self-
care, work, family time, and other activities that are important to you!

Now if spreadsheets aren’t your style, this next approach may be for you...

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Option 2: Freewrite Your Ideal Week

Go to a quiet place; someplace where you’ll be able to think, dream, and see
life from a fresh perspective. You can either write here in the Fun Sheet, open
a new online document, or take your journal to your favorite park or coffee
shop. You’re going to spend 10-20 minutes freewriting on your ideal week.

Remember that your canvas is 168 hours. How would you spend those hours
each week, if you could have it any way you want it? What’s your ideal vision
of an average week in your life?

For example, in your ideal world:

How many hours would you sleep each night?

When would you wake up?

How much time would you spend on your self-care?

What would you do exactly?

How much time would you spend with your family,

working, playing, cooking, shopping, etc.?

How much open and free time would you have each day
or week?

Are weekdays different than weekends? How so?

Use the blank canvas space to sketch out how you’d most like to spend your
168 hours, using any combination of words and numbers. While you don’t
have to “use up” all 168 hours in your ideal week vision — it’s important to
remember that every week you get a fresh allocation of 168 hours, and every
week you spend them, whether you’re consciously aware of it or not.

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This is simply an opportunity to align more of those 168 blocks of magical time
with what your heart says matters most.

Most importantly, have fun! There’s no wrong way to do this exercise and this
isn’t about doing anything “perfectly.” It’s about reclaiming your personal power
and giving yourself the chance to be intentional with your time and attention.

Feel free to do as many “sketches” as you like until you find a canvas that most
closely aligns with a vision you want to work towards!

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Brilliant work!

Whether you used a spreadsheet, chose the freewriting approach, or any other
method — keep your “Ideal Week” sketches close by as you continue to plan
and schedule your time. While you may not be able to actualize your ideal week
immediately, all great change begins with a vision. Then, by making one change
here, another change there, you’ll soon be living in your ideal week. Beginning
with an inspiring vision is how you begin to bring any dream to life.

Now it’s time for your…

Quiz & Review

Testing your knowledge will help you install these principles more deeply in your
brain. We’re all about integrative learning here, so don’t skip this step! If you need it,
the answer key is on the bottom of this page.

1. The #1 problem that keeps people stuck in Time Scarcity is the false narrative,
“______________________________________________________________.”

2. The foundational principle of a Time Genius is: “____________________________.”

3. We get a fresh allocation of ________ hours each week.

4. Opportunity cost means everything you say, “______” to means you’re saying,
“______” to something else.

5. You have the power to design your life as a Time Artist using the

“_____________________________” approach.

3.168 4. Yes; No 5. Blank canvas

1. There’s never enough time. 2. There’s ALWAYS time for what’s most important.

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RESOURCES

• How to Make Time for Creativity With Morgan Harper Nichols (MarieTV)

• How to Feel Better in 5 Minutes With Dr. Rangan Chatterjee (MarieTV)

You did it!

See you in Lesson #4.

Still Have Questions?

Remember to check the Answer Vault for this Module!

We answer your Time Genius questions like…

• How can I make sure I still have the energy to focus on my priorities
instead of feeling completely drained when I have free time?

• How can I carve out larger chunks of focus time for a big project when
I need more than 10 minutes here and there to finish it?

• ​​Oops! When I tracked my time, I ended up with a deficit. What did I

do wrong?

“Those who make the worst use of their time

are the first to complain of its brevity.”

— JEAN DE LA BRUYÈRE

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