Are you SURE you know how you spend your time?

Time tracking can show how you’re really spending your time.

But, let’s be honest - it can be a pain in the butt unless you have a simple system for it (yep, I'll cover that below).

The long-term benefits are huge, so let’s talk about ways to get them without going crazy.

What Benefits?

Knowing how you spend your time helps you make informed decisions about where to focus or refocus for better results.

Do you have 5 hours per week available for a side project, or will you "make it work”?

Discovering that your quick Instagram checks led to 90 minutes per day of social media deep-diving during your most productive hours?

How can you focus on projects with the best ROI for your time?

Time tracking can give great insights into your actual time use compared to how you think you’re spending your time.

Consider using the “imaginary watcher” idea I mentioned in this short video:

Recommended

How To Time Track Without Driving Yourself Crazy

The quickest way to get started is to grab a piece of paper and a pen.

Draw horizontal lines and label by half hour:

8:00_______________________________________

8:30_______________________________________

9:00_______________________________________

Keep it nearby and write down what you’re doing.

If you want, set an alarm every 30 minutes as a reminder.

Do that for a few days and you’ll discover things about yourself and your patterns that you didn’t know.

Something I came across that also looked interesting was to use this “Make Yourself Great Again” calculator where you enter your activity times.

This is a one-time entry to show you the long-term benefits of each activity.

i.e. would you rather have spent 30 minutes developing a new skill each day this week or scrolling more social posts? Which one will get you where you want to go?

A Quick Note On Social Media

I’m not against it.

I use it.

It’s fun. Sometimes.

I thought it might be a good time to take a break and say that not everything needs to be avoided, but we do need reminders from time to time to keep ourselves in line with our own expectations so that we get what we want from life.

If you want to go check out the latest BBQ pictures from your friends for 15 minutes, by all means, do it!

OK, Back To The Good Stuff - Digital Tracking

There are many digital tracking options.

This has a double benefit.

Many tools can let you estimate the time needed and then track actual task time.

This can be very informative over time - showing yourself the difference between expectation and reality. Do this enough and you should be able to narrow that gap so you can accurately forecast how long a task will take.

Todoist has an integration with TrackingTime that can be used even on the free plan.

If you’re using ClickUp, you just need to enable the ClickApp - more details here.

Basically, the task or project management tool you use probably has this built in to some degree or has an integration that will let you track time.

What would I recommend to someone that hasn’t done this before?

Try using a sheet of paper like I outlined above and do it for 2 days.

On the 3rd day, take a look at what you wrote down that you did during those 30 minute blocks.

Does it line up with what you think you spend your time doing?

If not, what could you adjust to get back on track?

Extra Extra

• Make the coffee. Do the little extra thing that is within your power to do.

One quick question 👋

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