Tracking Time

One of the sessions I attended at the NAPO conference was entitled “Know Your Numbers.” The point of the presentation was that knowing your numbers gave you powerful information that would help you develop your profession. I am good about tracking my finances and I am good about tracking client hours- hands on service. But I realized after listening to the presenter that I was not that good at tracking my time- even though I give time management presentations. I block in time for tasks to be done but some of my areas are vague. Email is one area- email to whom about what? I will know at the time but what percent of that emailing is networking, how much is client follow up, how much of it is gathering information or researching a question, how much of it is volunteer work for GA-NAPO? That is not recorded. I don’t really track the amount of time I use on preparation for clients and for all of my follow up. I know I do a considerable amount, but would have to wildly guess at a percentage. I track travel miles but do not log in travel time. I track the times I give presentations and how long they are but I do not track my preparation time. I don’t track the time I spend on Social Media or professional reading. Starting yesterday, I have seriously began tracking that time. It could help me make decisions on how to use my time in the future. How do you keep track of your time? Do you see the benefits of doing it. I would love some feedback on this topic.

Jonda S. Beattie Professional Organizer

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