Keep track of how you are spending your time
How to do it?
- Manual timesheets
- MS Excel
- Online tools and apps
- toggl.com
- Consistent time tracking and productivity measurement are much easier with a time tracking app like Toggl Track. It tracks time on multiple devices, lets you create tasks with drag-and-drop, and generates insightful time data reports with billable/non-billable hours and more.
Benefits
Increased productivity
Tracking your time daily gives you a clear overview of your work habits.
It shows you where your hours go, not just where you think they’re going. This can be eye-opening–tasks you thought were quick might, in reality, be time hogs.
By seeing your day clearly, you can spot bottlenecks and fix what’s slowing you down.
It’s a simple way to boost productivity and focus on what matters most.
Improved project management
Tracking time helps you build a time database of projects and tasks.
It helps you become a pro at planning future projects. With this database, you can better estimate how long tasks will take and what resources you’ll need to complete them.
This means you can set deadlines that make sense and avoid the stress of rushing at the last minute.
It’s also great for keeping projects on track. If you’re in charge, you can see how everyone’s doing in real-time and make quick changes when things fall behind.
Plus, it’s like an early warning system for problems.
You can spot and fix issues before they become big headaches.
As a bonus, when everyone tracks their time, it builds a culture of accountability where people take pride in their work and how they use their hours.
Data-driven decision-making
Time tracking gives project managers a clear picture of how their team uses their hours. It’s like having a real-time map of everyone’s capacity, utilization, and workload.
Better work-life balance
Time tracking helps you understand how much time you spend on work-related activities versus personal time.
When things become unbalanced, you can easily identify this and take measures to fix it.
You’ll know when to reinforce boundaries between work and personal life to prevent burnout, increase job satisfaction, and safeguard your mental and physical health.
Imagine you are a designer from our previous example. You’ve started to feel burnt out and unhappy in your job because of the workload, and when you look at the hours you’ve tracked you can quickly see why – you worked on average 10 hours more per week than you should.
With this information—and the data to back it up—you can speak to your team and management about the workload and ways to resolve it.