Okay, this will be revealing all of my super nerdy qualities in one short post.

I’m going to talk about time tracking.

You might be saying, “Wha? Time tracking? Bern, just live your life! You don’t need to track everything!”

But what can I say? I enjoy seeing where my time goes.

Toggl Track
This a Time Tracking app that I hit start on every time I sit down and write or edit or do anything that is part of my writing process. It has been invaluable for me working out how long it actually takes me to write a book and then plan future books from there.

There are plenty of Time Tracking apps out there but this one works best for me. I probably use it in its simplest form but I do sometimes shy away from the bells and whistles of apps and tools as I feel they can be a distraction.

The only downfall is it did take a bit of setting up, working out how I would record my time in folders and hash tags etc but again, I used a really simple system so I didn’t have to think too hard every time I sat down. There are plenty of YouTube videos out there showing how people use it.

Pomofocus
I’m pretty sure there is a Pomodoro timer option in Toggle but there is something about this website that I like. For a start it is nothing but a timer and you can set up how many work sessions you are going to do and then how long and when you will have your breaks.

Using 25 minute Pomodoro sessions is a big part of my work process and I don’t think I would get as much done if I didn’t use it. If you haven’t heard of Pomodoro Technique there is a good article here.

A very minor detail but it also gives a very satisfying ‘click’ sound when I start and stop!

Daily Tracking Spreadsheet
Again, a very simple form of tracking is a spreadsheet in Google Drive where I do dot points about my day. I might note that I finished editing, or I had a day off and saw a movie, or we went to a bbq. It’s not a diary, just a record of what I get up to in my working and personal life and I have to say it very much makes me feel like I have a full life. It’s so easy to forget the minutiae of life but it is what makes up our days, weeks, months, years.

At the end of each month I transfer the main points into a monthly spreadsheet broken into categories like Writing, Writing Learning & Development, Family, Consume etc. I can then use this to find out if I’m dropping the ball on something (always Learning and Development… always) or mainly just to confirm that I’m packing a lot in and it’s all okay. By the end of the year it’s really satisfying to look over it all and know life is pretty good.

That’s it. I try to keep it very simple and quick because the tracking shouldn’t overtake the doing. I have been using these tools for a few years though and it’s more of an automatic thing for me now whereas in the beginning, like anything, it took some habit building and set up. But, for me, time tracking definitely keeps me ‘on track’ and it’s well worth investigating.

What about you? Do you have any time tracking tools you’d recommend?