Awareness

Money. Time. Food. The first two seem to slip away and we don't know where they have gone. The third seems to slip in unnoticed and end up on our tummies, hips and thighs. When I was in a class for new home buyers, we had to keep a journal of every penny we spent. The very act of having to write it down made me think twice about every purchase.

When I am on Weight Watchers, I have a little calculator that tracks the point value of everything I eat. If I have to enter 13 points for a single serving frozen pizza when I only have 29 points for the day, I will seriously think about whether it is worth the points.

Those of you who know me, also know that I work a lot. I also do a lot of my work from home. I recently started tracking how I use my time. I made a little spread sheet in Excel with 15 minute increments. After a week of time tracking, I was amazed at how much I do and also about how I "zone out" for periods of time where I honestly don't remember what I was doing!

Tracking things like spending, eating, and time use makes us aware of what is really going on in our lives. Tracking raises awareness. Awareness is the beginning of change. Once we take a look at what we really are doing, we can decide what we want to change in our lives.