Where Are You REALLY Spending Your Time?
One of the attractions of being an entrepreneur is we’re not dealing with timesheets and clocking in/out like we would in a 9-5. We work on our own terms when and where we have the time. I started my business because freedom is so important to me - the freedom to be my own boss and to work where, when, and how I want.
I was on a group call with Carrie Green (founder of FEA), and she talked about the importance of tracking your time. I’d heard her mention it several times before, but it just didn’t seem that important to me. She challenged us to give it a try for the next week. Ever the overachiever, I decided to give it a shot for 2 weeks. I found it so helpful that I never stopped. It’s been over a year and a half, and I still track every single day.
On a piece of 8x11 paper, I write down what time I start and stop a task, and then I add a short task description. I know this can be done on a computer, but there’s just something about putting pen to paper that I love. At the end of the day, I calculate the minutes spent on each task.
I then add my minutes to a Google Sheets doc that is broken down by categories. For example, I have CEO tasks, social media content creation, content scheduling, interacting on social media, sessions with clients, emails and messaging, blogging, projects, etc.
At the end of the week, I tally the numbers for each category and place them into a monthly table. At the end of each quarter I tally the monthly tables. And I do the same for the quarters that I tally at the end of the year. This way I know exactly where I’m spending my time.
When I first started doing this, I was most surprised by the number of hours I was working. In my mind, the number was much larger than what I was actually putting in. I was so sure I’d put in 40 hours, but the reality was more like 32. It’s been incredibly helpful to see where I’m allocating my time. I’m able to tell what tasks I need to spend less or more time on.
Last quarter I realized that I put a ton of my time into personal development - taking courses and reading books. I love to learn and will continue to do so, but I will be more conscious of how much time I allocate to it. One of the categories I didn’t put much time into was sales. Going forward, I will be prioritizing that, as it’s way more of a needle-mover than another course.
If you’re a solopreneur who is doing all the things, I highly recommend you track your time. I love Google Sheets since I can quickly add the columns as well as create pie charts for quick visuals. Find a system that feels easy for you. Feel free to copy how I do mine and improve upon it.
Once you're tracking your time, the main questions you want to be asking yourself are:
Where am I spending my time?
Are they tasks that are moving my business forward?
Are there tasks I should pull back from in order to allocate it to more needle-moving tasks?
Once you have your answers, adjust accordingly to make sure you're spending your time on what matters most - that which will move the needle forward in your business.
To your inner growth and success,
Adrienne
