The average person employs 13 distinct strategies to regulate and manage their time, is interrupted every 8 minutes, or about seven times per hour, or 50–60 times per day. The average interruption lasts 5 minutes, equating to nearly 4 hours, or half of a typical workday. Is it difficult for you to find enough time in the day to get everything done? You’re not alone. It can be challenging to remain productive when you have a million things swirling around in your head. This means that it’s more important than ever to track your time to make you more productive.
There are various ways to track your time. You could use a paper and pencil method, an app on your phone, or even a spreadsheet. But which time tracking technique is best for you? Well, read on to find out! 🙂
- The Pomodoro Technique
The Pomodoro Technique can be applied to any task but is particularly useful for sustained focus jobs. By breaking downtime into manageable chunks and taking short breaks, the Pomodoro Technique helps you stay focused and productive.
One of the benefits of using the Pomodoro Technique is that it helps you become aware of how you’re spending your time. By tracking your time, you can see where you’re wasting time and make changes to become more productive.
- Time Tracking Apps
We all know that time is precious, and we should use it in the most efficient way possible. However, it can be challenging to figure out where our time goes sometimes. That’s why time tracking apps can be so helpful- they help us see where our time is going so that we can be more productive.
Heycollab is one such app to help you track your time and level up your productivity game. It is a community where you can work in harmony. Your work is organized into workspaces to keep all of your tasks, messages, and files quickly accessible. The work tab helps you stay informed on your team’s progress, and this feature aids to admin with a bird’s eye view of what his team is actively working at!
- Time Tracking Sheets
Sheets can help you track time so you can be more productive. By knowing how much time you have to work on a task, you can plan better and make the best use of your time. Also, if you’re consistently spending too much time on a specific job, tracking your time can help you identify and address the issue.
There are many benefits to using sheets to track your time. First, it can help you be more productive by ensuring that you focus on the task at hand. Second, it can help you become more aware of how you are spending your time. This can allow you to make changes in your schedule if needed. Third, it can help you set time limits for tasks, preventing you from becoming overwhelmed. Finally, it can help you track your progress and see how much time you are spending on tasks.
- Pen And Paper Technique
There are a few benefits to using pen and paper to track your time and be more productive. First, it allows you to see how you’re spending your time physically. This can help you identify which tasks are taking up the most time and where you might need to make adjustments.
Second, it’s a great way to document your progress. By tracking your time over a while, you can see how much you’ve improved and be motivated to keep going. Finally, it’s an excellent way to hold yourself accountable. When you write down what you did each day, you’re more likely to stick to your goals.
- The Timer Strategy
Time tracking has many benefits, such as increased productivity and task management. One of the best ways to track your time is to set timers for specific tasks. This will aid you to remain focused and avoid distractions. You’ll also be able to track how long it takes you to complete different tasks.
Setting time timers can help you be more productive by staying focused on the task at hand. When you’re working on a time-sensitive task, it can be helpful to set a timer to keep you on track. This will help prevent you from procrastinating and working more efficiently.
Time tracking is a significant step in managing time and becoming more productive. When you track your time, you can see where you are spending the majority of your time. This allows you to identify where you can make changes to be more productive. Additionally, time tracking helps you become more aware of how much time you have available for tasks.
This can help you better manage your time and be more productive. Finally, time tracking can also help prevent procrastination. When you know that you will track how much time you spend on a task, you are less likely to procrastinate on it.
- Keeping A Time Log
Keeping a time log is one of the most significant ways to track your time and be more productive. By recording how you spend your time, you can start to see where you might make some changes to become more efficient. For example, you might find that you’re spending a lot of time on tasks that aren’t essential or that you’re not taking advantage of your time as efficiently as you could be.
Time tracking can also help you identify patterns in your work. For instance, if you notice that you always seem to be rushed at the end of the day, you can adjust your schedule to have more time for tasks later in the day. Or, if you realize that you always spend a lot of time on email, you can look for ways to automate or delegate some of those tasks.
- Tracking Your Productivity Patterns
Track your productivity over time to see where you need improvement.
When it comes to time tracking, there are many different ways that you can go about it. Some people prefer to use timers, while others keep track of time with a time log. No matter which method you choose, the goal is always to be more productive.
There are various benefits to tracking your time. For one, it can help you become more aware of how you’re spending your time. This can allow you to see where you might need to make some changes to be more productive. Additionally, time tracking can help you identify any patterns in your productivity. You can then consider this information to generate a plan for how to best use your time in the future.
When you track your time, you can see where you are spending the majority of your time. This information can help you to be more productive in the future by allocating your time more wisely. For example, if you realize that you are spending a lot of time on social media, you can make a conscious effort to reduce the amount of time you spend on social media and use that time to work on tasks that are important to you.
- Keeping Track Of Non-Billable Activities
It’s a great idea to keep track of your time on non-billable activities like thinking, researching and communicating.
They may not appear on invoices, but they’re critical when determining your true hourly rate.
For example, you may charge a client for 100 hours (the time you really spent on activities), but when you factor in all the extra time (emails, feedback, and administration), you’ve spent effectively 120 hours, lowering your true hourly cost.
- Time Tracking Tools
Time tracking tools can be very helpful in monitoring where time is being spent and can help identify areas of time that can be improved.
By tracking time, it’s possible to get a more accurate view of how time is spent and identify areas where time could be better managed. Time tracking can also help make you more aware of how you’re using time, leading to increased productivity.
Heycollab features its own in-house time-tracking system. You won’t need a plugin or an external software to keep track of your team’s time.
You can see a snapshot of simply your allocated tasks by clicking “my work.” Every task includes the ability to keep track of time. Simply hover your mouse over a task and press the play button to begin. Your team can also offer visual comments to shared photographs when it’s needed for speedy collaboration.
- Don’t Track The Small Bits Of Time
Timekeeping is a tedious task that no one enjoys. The more specifics and precision you want, the more likely you are to receive incomplete and erroneous data (especially if your employees don’t understand why they are being asked to do it).
A decent rule of thumb states that anything that takes longer than 15 minutes deserves its own time entry.
For example, if you need to use the restroom, you don’t need to track it; simply add it to the project time. However, if you’re having a 30-minute lunch break, either don’t track it or mark it as a break.
This holds true for freelancers as well. You don’t need to watch communication unless client chats are taking so long that they need to be scheduled or if you’re devoting entire time blocks to responding to emails.
Research is another example, which might take a long time. You can charge half if a client hires you to do something outside of your area of expertise. After all, whatever new skills you gain benefit you, and whatever project-specific skills you gain benefit the customer. As a result, it’s only suitable to split the costs.
Conclusion
It can be tough to stay productive when you have a million things swirling around in your head. But don’t worry, we’ve got you covered! There are so many ways to track your time, and we’ve outlined the best ones for you here.
So what are you waiting for? Start tracking your time today and see how much more productive you become! Do you know of any other time management strategy that works well for you? Share it with us in the comments below. We would love to hear from you!