Go to business school, and you’ll hear it over and over again: What gets measured gets managed. Often attributed to Peter Drucker, this maxim also applies to time management. The best way to improve your time management is to log your daily activities. Simply seeing how your time is spent empowers you to be more productive.
Before you begin recording your daily activities, you have two choices to make—where to do it and how to do it. Let’s discuss them both.
Where to Log Your Daily Activities
Generally speaking, you have two options for logging your daily activities: physically or digitally. Although there’s no “right” answer, there are reasons why people choose one over the other.
Digital Logging
For a few reasons, many people prefer to log their tasks in a calendar or productivity software:
1. Accessibility
Who wants to carry a planner everywhere they go? Digital tracking tools can be accessed from your phone, which is probably in your pocket from when you wake up to when you hit the hay. They can also be pulled up on your computer, where you’ll analyze the data.
2. Customizability
Do you like to view your tasks as a calendar or a list? Do you like to categorize them by type, participant, timeline, or something else? Do you color-code them? Digital activity logging tools put you in the driver’s seat. If you change your mind about a layout or color choice, you can always adjust it later.
