Name which burners are actually on

Honestly assess how much fuel each of the four domains is receiving right now.

Why it works

Most people carry a mental model of their priorities that diverges sharply from their actual time-and-energy allocation. Surfacing the gap — the burner you claim is high but treat as low — creates the cognitive dissonance that motivates deliberate adjustment. Without the audit, the gap stays invisible and the drift continues.

How to do it

1. List your four burners: work, family, friends, and health.
2. Estimate what percentage of your discretionary time and mental energy each received last week.
3. Separately, write the percentage you wish each had received.
4. Circle the largest gaps — those are the burners whose setting is unintentional.

Evidence

Time-diary research consistently shows people misremember how they actually spend time; self-reported allocations systematically diverge from recorded ones. (observational)

The "four burners" framing is a conceptual model; the misperception finding supports the audit step, not the model itself.

Sources

• Robinson & Godbey (1997), Time for Life, Penn State University Press

Common mistake

Listing aspirational percentages rather than actual ones, which skips the discomfort that makes the audit useful.