If you want to lose weight, the experts tells you to monitor your body kilograms.
If you want to save money, they tell you to monitor your Euros. Note all the costs (-), note all the income (+).
What if you don't know where your time goes? If you want to become more effective/productive? Monitor your hours and activities!
Divide your day into 24 slots (= 24h), log the main activity for each hour.
When you have it written on the paper, it is super clear to see:
(a) your productive hours;
(b) your less productive hours (= hours, when you blow your time for nothing).
Tracking, monitoring your hours: it is annoying at first, it takes time and energy. You will adjust, get used to it, like with every new thing.
Try it out for a month. Continue, if you find it useful.
Two benefits, if you log your hours and activities regularly:
- more focused, more aware of what you are doing at the moment;
- analyze your daily structures; is there a room for improvement? An activity to add/remove?
I started the 24h timesheet practice back in 2017, when I got back from my 8-month long bike trip. My days were without any structure. A question popped up in my mind: "How do I blow 24 hours day by day? Where does my time go?"
You are going to find similar ideas, if you check the internet.
Laura Vanderkam (a mother of five) is a productivity, time management freak.
She suggests splitting every hour into 4x15 min, to log the activities with even higher frequency.
Be aware, how you spend your day. Are there activities, you would like to lose/add?
Check the example, how I followed the method.