Today we’re going to talk about time tracking and planning. This is going to be such a simple little topic to talk about. However it is one of the most impactful, powerful things that you can do. If you find that you’re one of those people that says:
- “There’s just not enough hours in a day…”
- “I just can’t get everything done!”
- “I’m always behind.”
If this is you, then you’ve got to do this exercise, if you haven’t already. And if you have done this exercise, do it again. Because if you do this very simple time tracking exercise, it’s going to be a huge eye opener, and a massive Game Changer to your productivity; guaranteed.
How I Started
It’s as simple as this; track your time. It’s that easy. So whether you use a calendar, like Microsoft Outlook calendar, a day planner, or a piece of paper, it doesn’t matter. For one week, you want to write down what you’ve been doing, in about 15-minute increments. It’s going to be super annoying, but do it for a week. The benefits of what you’re going to find by doing this are amazing. You can also try 30-minute increments. It all depends on how your day really goes. Here is a good article on time-tracking from Inc.
Get Your Calendar Ready
When I first did this exercise I just used a yellow legal pad. On the first day I just wrote a line for; 8:30 to 9:00, 9-9:30, 9:30-10, 10-10:30, etc. and what I was doing. I continued all the way through my work day. And so every half hour, I would remind myself. At first, I actually had a little alarm go off on my phone, where I would stop whatever I was doing and I would just write in that time slot what I did for the last 30 minutes. What you will discover is truly eye-opening.
How to do it
So, you’re going to be writing down all the things like… “I chit-chatted with my office colleagues” or “I went to the bathroom” or “I grabbed a coffee and daydreamed” or whatever it is. You’re going to want to write those things down. At the end of the first day, you’re probably going to laugh because you’re going to catch yourself doing things like wow, I really spent that much time on that?
By the end of two or three days, you’re going to be thinking, okay, I just spent an hour and twenty minutes on social media in the last three days. If I had taken that hour and twenty minutes during my day, and focused on X project, I’d be done by now and not sweating bullets, because I haven’t completed it.
Yup, it’s that simple and even if it’s an annoying exercise, just do it for one week, or do it for a few days, if you can’t commit to a week. But if you can, do it for one week, just write down every 15 to 20 or 30 minutes exactly what you were doing. If you have a whole week worth of that data, you’re going to look over it and be able to figure out how much time you spent on various activities. Some productive (self-care IS productive) and some unconscious behaviors (like eating for an hour and a half while surfing the internet) that you can adjust.
Time Drains
Social Media
What’s going to happen is you’re going to realize how much time is actually intentional. You can decide to be more conscious of *not* doing whatever it is that was sucking your time. Oftentimes, it’s going to be social media (here is an article on social media in the office.)
Research
Or it might be, like somebody here in my office, that’s extraordinarily smart, and likes to go down the rabbit holes. Someone might ask her a question and she responds with, “that’s a really interesting question, let me figure that out.” And then she’ll start googling and then she’ll think, maybe this or that, and then she’ll look at another site, and she’ll just literally go down a rabbit hole. The next thing you know, an hour and a half has gone by and that question really deserved like a 15-second answer. Those sorts of people are generally geniuses but at the end of the week they have lost substantial amounts of time.
Observing Yourself
If you just watch where your time is going over the week, next week you’ll be much more conscious of those things, whether it’s the rabbit holes, social media, and unconscious behaviors. If you knock those things out or consciously reduce your time on them, and focus all of that time on what you have been putting off (or haven’t ‘had the time’ to do), you’re going to get s*it done. It’s that simple.
Just Do it Once!
Track your time, do it for one week, it can be a tedious and annoying exercise, but it is so incredibly valuable. And honestly, I really only had to do it for one week where I had that light bulb go off. I knew exactly where the cracks in my time were going. I did it once and this was a couple of years ago. It completely changed my mindset going into each week.
My Productivity Transformation
I start my days much earlier now and maybe that’s not for everyone. What I realized is there’s certain things that I wanted to get done every morning, such as meditating, when there’s nobody in the office yet and it’s super quiet. There are also certain tasks around the office that I like to get done when nobody’s here.
Previously, I was rushing to get those things done. They’d be part of the workday but then the rest of my workday I felt like I was behind the ball. So I started coming in an hour earlier, getting all those “Kasey housekeeping things” out of the way and then I had a solid workday and that enabled me to get everything else done. That was transformative for me and my productivity level.
Get the Sparkle Planner
You might notice a few things about where your time is going, make those adjustments small or large, it doesn’t matter, and then watch your productivity shoot through the roof. And like I said last week, and I’m going to say it again… If you need something, if you need a prompt, or something to write on, if you’re not a big yellow pad or notebook type person, get the Sparkle Planner. It lasts a full quarter or more, and if you don’t use it every day. It’s organized in a way where you can jot down your time and you can do so many different tasks. It also has goal setting built-in and time tracking. This is our related blog piece on setting quarterly goals.
If you don’t need our planner, then just grab your online calendar if you’re more of an online person. Or even your notes on your phone or just a sheet of paper. Literally track down where every minute goes throughout the day for a week. You’re going to love the results. You’re going to love what you’re going to do with those results.
So that’s it, that is your time tracking tip for the day. I cannot emphasize how important it is to do that enough and happy time tracking. Have a great, extraordinarily productive week.
