Do you know how much time you waste? I thought I was pretty productive until I realized I needed to carve time for new activities. It was important knowing how and where am I wasting time. Where can I ask others to take over tasks? What do I want to stop doing in my life?
My circumstance isn’t in a business situation. I’m retired, working on an idea for a business. So that makes me an entrepreneur, I suppose. Regardless, it’s important I know how I spend my time if I want to do new things.
How Did I Determine Wasted Time?
In one of my accountability groups with Whitney McNeill’s Messenger of Spirit, I learned about the app, Toggl. I downloaded it onto my iPhone and started using it immediately, before Whitney’s virtual meeting was even finished.
Toggl is totally intuitive, even for my over-60 brain. However, I admit I’m used to organizing tasks into categories from my career in database design. I believe this is the most crucial aspect of tracking your time. When I first started playing with Toggl on my iPhone, I didn’t understand how Projects work. Rather than continue wasting more time, I replied to an email congratulating me on downloading Toggl. Yes, I asked for help.
Their reply was detailed and included a link to an online tutorial for the Web app. After watching it, I learned a lot more about projects and easily found another helpful article on utilizing the iPhone app. I’ve included both links at the end of this blog.
Tips for Using Toggl
Here are my tips before using Toggl:
- Brainstorm what you do in a typical day or week.
- When you have a page full of what you do, start grouping the tasks
- Form 4-5 large areas
- Associate these areas with the tasks
- Write the list of tasks down on another piece of paper
- Set up Projects from the large areas in the Web Toggl version
- Start tracking, assigning Projects first and then use your task list for timed tasks, preferably when you start your day
Helpful Toggl Links
Tutorial using the Web Application
Article on using it on the iPhone (iOS)
I am so excited about this app, I wanted to share it with you. While using it, I realize it is so much more powerful than a simple organizer of time.
Next week I’ll update you on how I’m putting it to use in my daily life.
I’d love to hear from you about your time tracking experience, whether using Toggl, other digital or paper based time tracking.
Dawn