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How to Use a Time Log to Conquer Your Day-to-Day
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Conquering Every Day with Time Logs
A time log is a producitivity-inducing tool that helps us keep track of the things we dedicate our time with. It provides a comprehensive overview of how our time is being spent.
Since the goal of the time log is to boost our productivity and efficiency, it does that by showing us how much time we really waste by not keeping track of time.
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Benefits of Tracking Time
- You are able to find where you are falling behind and then you can organize your work.
- You’ll know just how much time you’re spending doing professional or personal tasks.
- It will help you stay focused and on track and will give you the tools to hold yourself accountable.
- You’ll begin to notice that your performance and your progress will grow over time.
- Tracking your time and recording it allows you to see how much time specific tasks take when you’re staying focused and productive.
- Tracking your time can help you get more out of your efforts. And create a schedule that works best for you.
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How To Start A Time Log
- Find the right digital time tracking tool that suits you. Digital time tracking tools can accurately track your time down to the second and it is not as time-consuming as a manual time tracker.
- Set time goals and track down your results.
- Assess your time log results and readjust to meet your needs.
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Make planning a habit
Some mornings we feel motivated to create a to-do list, but that is often the exception. We need to get things done, even when we feel disengaged.
Start by setting ...
Align your to-do list with goals
- Break down your big goals into daily tasks. You can't add "Get in shape" to your daily to-do list, but you can add "spend 30 minutes on my bike."
- Consider your week as a whole. You likely have multiple goals. Some goals benefit from daily activity, while working towards others a few times a week can create momentum.
- Add your have-to-do tasks last. We often fill our to-do lists with have-to-do tasks that crowd the whole day. Adding it last forces you to fit your have-to-do tasks around your goal tasks.
Have one daily priority
Many of us start our mornings with dozens of things we need to get done, but later realize that we haven't crossed any of them off our lists. We did get stuff done, but none of the things we planned.
A balm against hectic days that pass without progress is to choose a single activity to prioritize and protect in your calendar. If you struggle to select your top priority, ask yourself, when you look back on your day, what do you want the highlight to be? That's your priority.
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Time Debt
The choices we make to ‘borrow’ our personal time to get work done works against us in the long run, just like the money borrowed from a credit card has to be paid back with interest in the future....
Track Your Time
You need to find out just where your time is going currently. You can use a pen and paper, a spreadsheet, or an app to visualize where you spend most of the hours in your day.
Create A Time-Blocking Template
- Block your time for specific types of work, not individual tasks.
- Block your time for core work like coding, designing or writing, for shallow work like daily tasks and maintenance, for meetings and emails, and fill it with frequent breaks to replenish yourself.
- Give yourself space between blocks so that you can decompress and keep your energy levels high.
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The Action Hero
Give them a seemingly impossible list of tasks and they will have them done and dusted faster than a speeding bullet. But in their haste, they can miss things and prioritize...
The Diva
Very sociable and upbeat but with a tendency to procrastinate, they often boast about their nonexistent achievements giving the impression they are more productive than they really are.
Strategy: breaking tasks into tiny steps, scheduling their resolution and setting reminders works well. Email management according to urgency is also crucial considering how much time it usually consumes.
The Workhorse
Thoughtful, cautious, methodical and quite independent in terms in carrying out tasks. They plan and prioritize well, but may be seen as overcautious, while others can be frustrated by their inertia. Their dedication to the job can also lead to an unwillingness to share the burden of work.
Strategy: Choose the most important things you need to focus on and those that only you can do, while delegating the rest according to staff skills.