When ever you start measuring something, you need to weigh the cost of measurement against the gains gotten from it.
Thus, it doesn't always make sense to track a metric. It can make a lot of sense to do it for a short time, understand how you're operating, make improvements, and then drop the tracking.
That's how it goes for me with filling out a time tracking sheet. I'll do it for a while to establish routines and make improvements, and then go off the process at other times during busy periods, or if I'm not getting much gain from it.
Here's my newest time tracking sheet. I fill this out daily, starting from the morning, and ending when I mark down the last notes at night. Explanation follows below --
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START OF DAY:
Time awake/total sleep:
Appointments today:
Other time-sensitive things:
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PRIORITIES
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CHECKLIST
Time started:
Brush teeth:
Stretch:
Meditate:
Followup:
Breathe:
Borderlands:
Gratitude:
Life goals:
Time complete:
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TRACKING APPLICATIONS
iDoneThis:
Lift:
Flowformer:
Evernote TSW:
Reminders:
Followup List:
Today's Plan:
GGW Trello:
GGW Team Members List:
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TIME TRACKING:
CATEGORIES:
Excel:
Good:
Okay:
Poor:
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Reflective Control:-------------------------------------------
ANALYSIS:
What did I do right?
What did I do wrong?
What environmental factors affected me?
What would I do differently if I had the day to live over?-------------------------------------------
END OF DAY:
Income today:
Spent:
== TOTAL:
Food/Calories:
== TOTAL:
Finished Eating:
Plan tomorrow:
Time complete:
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Explanation --
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START OF DAY:
Time awake/total sleep:
Appointments today:
Other time-sensitive things:
-------------------------------------------
PRIORITIES
-------------------------------------------
CHECKLIST
Time started:
Brush teeth:
Stretch:
Meditate:
Followup:
Breathe:
Borderlands:
Gratitude:
Life goals:
Time complete:
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Here's what I fill out at the start of the day. The first category is self-explanatory: Marking down total sleep, any appointments, and anything that has a short-term urgency. Even though I look at my calendar anyways consistently (if not tracking), I find it useful to hand re-type what appointments I have. Just the few seconds of doing that tends to lead to thinking about them and give ideas on how they could run better.
Priorities, I'll usually set one or two for the day and type it into that box.
The next checklist is pretty self-explanatory. "Borderlands" is considering the fact that life is transient and we'll die at some point. "Life Goals" means either look at one of the various sets of goals I've written up, or do some writing on it.
Lately, I'd been usually doing that third CHECKLIST section after I've already put in an hour or two of work. I can often jam on the work well right after I wake, but then get a little tired after a couple hours. Taking a shower, stretching, meditating, thinking about goals, etc, gives a useful break and then can get back into creative work or start taking the day's appointments/calls.
TRACKING APPLICATIONS
iDoneThis:
Lift:
Flowformer:
Evernote TSW:
Reminders:
Followup List:
Today's Plan:
GGW Trello:
GGW Team Members List:
These are applications and text files that I need to be looking at basically every day. iDoneThis is where I'm tracking accomplishments now (I used to track it on paper, but I like iDoneThis's interface). Life is nice for daily recurring habits. Flowflormer is nice for setting a mantra for the day briefly to refer back to.
I keep my general "Do Whenever" things to process in Evernote, which is the next reference on there.
Finally, "Reminders" is a general to-do list. "Followup List" is a text file with a list of people I need to follow up with. "Today's Plan" refers to the plan I wrote the night before.
Then finally, looking at the name of every GGW team member (to see if I need to communicate or get any deliverables to them, or follow up about anything) and every active GGW deal I've got to keep it moving.
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TIME TRACKING:CATEGORIES:
Excel:Good:
Okay:
Poor:
I've actually been ignoring summing time by quality lately. I like it as a general point, so I haven't deleted it yet. But this section is where I mark down things as they happen.
Here's an example of it filled out --
5:30AM: Great start to the day. (80 excel, 30 good)5:50AM: Morning routine complete. (20 good)6:10AM: Distraction. (10 ok, 10 bad)
6:40AM: Showered, cleaned up Evernote TSW. (30 good)
6:50AM: Spent some time in Reflective Control, trying to understand why the SM.com inbox is overwhelming/scary to me… I think I've got the answers largely down, and took some action on that. (10 excel)
7:05AM: Read a little about ideal online newsletter, and spent some time thinking about what kind of people I want in my life. (15 good)
8AM: General time, and walking to cafe. (55 ok)
10:25AM: Solid call with Withall, brilliant call with Dame. (30 excel, 90 good, 25 ok)
10:50AM: I'm not sure where the time went. (25 ok?)
As you can see, I just make an entry when I shift activities. The time amount varies. It notes down good things (the day starting well), catching myself in distraction and getting off it, noting down any fears/anxieties/concerns, evaluating calls after they happen, losing track of time, and so on. It lets me see where the day goes and use the day more valuably while it's happening.
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Reflective Control:
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A nice new addition. This is looking to enter an off-autopilot, high-will, high-positive, action-oriented state. I try to do this at least daily. When it works, it basically ensures the next hour goes really well. And it works fairly often. It's a marvelous little mental tool.
ANALYSIS:
What did I do right?
What did I do wrong?
What environmental factors affected me?
What would I do differently if I had the day to live over?
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END OF DAY:
Income today:
Spent:
== TOTAL:
Food/Calories:
== TOTAL:
Finished Eating:
Plan tomorrow:
Time complete:
All pretty self-explanatory. "Finished Eating" is because I've been doing intermittent fasting lately, and trying to eat entirely within a six-hour window. "What environmental factors affected me?" is a nod towards pragmatism. We're always controlling our own experiences, but sometimes the environment dictates mood, energy level, concentration, etc, especially when not at our past.
I then plan the next day before sleeping.
So that's the newest time-tracking. It's a marvelous habit with a lot of gain to be had, but I've been doing it for a few years now -- I'd strongly recommend against starting with anything this complicated. Start with 2-3 things max (just writing down whenever you change activities, and what time it was, is a great way to start and is how I started). Then you add slowly, and evaluate if the extra additional gives you gains bigger than it costs to measure.
Inevitably, a reader of the site will see this, think, "I'm more hardcore than normal people! I can start by tracking 12 things at once!" No, dude, you can't. Only hardcore people start tracking at all anyways. If you're hardcore, you can start with 2-3 things. Starting with more is a recipe for the habit not sticking. So start small, and build up reasonably quickly if you haven't done it before.
Questions are welcome in the comments.