At one time, about 50 years ago, a simple paper diary became literally a revolution in the work organization and affairs planning. Nowadays, in the modern world of information and gadgets, the paper diary became an anachronism – digital solutions have come into play. It is much more convenient to use programs for planning and productivity tracking. These are usually different digital calendars, programs task scheduling analysis, to-do lists, etc. All these digital tools assist a lot in organizing business routine and reach a high-level productivity. So what is the practical benefit of productivity tracker apps and how can they change your life? Let us get all this straightened out.
1. Track Where You Spend Time Mostly
Whatever program you decide to use, it allows you to set/ track tasks for yourself and your colleagues, assign responsible ones, co-executors, or simply specify observers. Performance tracking applications can provide a report on where you or your team are spending time. Despite the fact that there is nothing wrong with viewing such reports, for someone it seems very difficult and will take a few hours to dive into the thematic sections analysis. If you are working with any tracking activity, then using any application, you, at least, realize how much time you spend on it.
2. Plan Your Work
Using performance tracking software raises an understanding of how much time is spent in general for performing various tasks. Thus, you can manage your workload easily. Knowing how much time is needed for completing a particular type of tasks, you can optimize the work to be done during the day and make sure your “to-do” list is well managed. Therefore, it easies your work planning and task management. As a result, you feel less tired at the end of the day and do your work more effectively.
3. Boost Your Productivity
Think about how you use your time, time tracking applications can boost your productivity. When using the application, you derive a regularity of being more efficient than a day before. There is no necessity of you always succeeding in everything, but knowing that there is some application that monitors what you do makes you optimize your work. So every time, you go to Facebook, you log out and think how it would affect your productivity.
4. Calculate Your Wage
If you have an hourly rate, time tracking software makes billing much easier. Instead of approximately estimating how long it will take to complete a task, using the application you will know exactly how many hours it will take to complete each part of the project. This means that you can quickly bill customers for the tasks they you to work on, which is why many time tracking applications include a way to create accounts.
5. Reduce the Risk of Invoice Dispute
The time tracking software also provides you with a measure of protection against anyone who disputes the invoice that you have issued. If the client disputes what you have done, you have a way to show the exact time spent on their project. Although this is not a magic shield, but in case of a dispute, it will cover your sit-upon.
6. Manage to Achieve More Goals
With the proper understanding of you performance rates and time frames necessary for managing particular tasks, it is easier to set goals and reach them. What is more, performance tracking software will help you find out the peak time of your performance rate; thus, you can schedule the most important meetings and work on the most complex tasks during that time. Plan your day effectively!
7. Become Successful in All Spheres of Activity
Proper planning of your day and workload will free some time for both your personal and professional development. Thus, time that you have previously spent on working on regular tasks can be now used with the great benefit to you. Performance tracking software will help you become successful in all the spheres of your activity. You may have been formerly busy and have no time for development and learning new things. Performance tracking software will help you find a balance and achieve goals that were impossible to reach before.
8. Have More Time for Yourself
It is impossible to be efficient without a proper rest and switching your mind from the work to relax mode. Each person should have some time for self-improvement, recreation, hobbies, and staying with his beloved ones. Unfortunately, for a modern man, it is today difficult to free up his tough schedule and find a window of time to dedicate it to recreation, hobbies, or staying for his close people. This is where performance tracking software can help a lot. This digital instrument will assist you in elaborating the most effective and easy-to-manage schedule. Perform tasks faster than those who do not know what time management is and do not use it. After a short period of using performance tracking software, you will be able to cope with many different things without feeling stressed and tired.
9. Forget about Constant Fatigue
You’ll become less prone to stress and will not experience emotional fatigue when you’ve planned for a working day. Even if you had less tasks in your to-do list but spent half of the day on Facebook, you will feel tired in the evening. It is way more efficient to plan your day based on results of your performance rates being tracked. Therefore, you will never overload yourself with tasks and will not spend hours in social networks. Instead, you will know when it is necessary to take a break and how much time to dedicate to it so that you are not in delay.
10. Have a Clear Plan of Action
When using performance tracking software, you always know how to act when working on complex and challenging tasks. The idea is that you divide a big task into smaller sub-tasks and handle a complex assignment step-by-step. Thus, you always have a clear plan of action and follow it closely. You know when to take a coffee break and when it is better to work efficiently without being disturbed and abstracting from the task. Performance tracking software will help you elaborate the most effective plan of action when dealing the most complicated tasks.
11. Control Your Life
Everyone of us would like to control our life and take the maximum out of it. Unfortunately, it is not always possible. We are all busy, and if not busy, we feel tired after a hard working day. To avoid the feeling of being а fagged-out person and to free up your calendar, using a performance tracking and task planning software will be of great service to you. Once you start tracking your time and paying close attention to your daily activities, you can control your life as you wish. Forget about staying at work till late hours. Spend this time with your family or friends instead. It is not about doing your work worse or taking less tasks; it is more about increasing your performance and spending no time on useless and “for-fun” stuff.
4 Productivity Apps to Strat Tracking Your Performance
Do you have a plan for the day? And how many points from it do you usually perform? Do you manage to cope with all the tasks you set, eat, and rest normally? Do you have time for your family and friends? For proper self-organization and high performance, it is not necessary to keep all thoughts and plans in your head or notebook. Instead, you can rely on applications aimed at tracking your performance and boosting it. Finding a good task planner and performance tracker is perhaps the first thing a modern man needs to do when he buys a smartphone, pc, or tablet. And this is one of the most useful features of mobile devices, especially for those who are not used to planning their tasks and projects in a paper diary. There are a lot of different task managers in the AppStore. Some of them are good, while others have poor functionality and cost a lot. That’s why we have decided to help you with the search and have picked five convenient planners that will help you set global goals, plan your life, and compile wish lists.
1. Toggl: Work Hours Time Tracker
Time management is the global problem of the 21st century: everyone talks about it, everyone wants to get it. However, very few people understand and effectively organize their working day. Time tracker Toggl makes registration in client projects easier, so you can keep track of how much time was spent on client projects, and how many hours have been dedicated to coping with company projects. And knowing the costs of your time, you can plan further work and your workload. Download Toggl
2. Remember The Milk
Now you will never forget to buy milk. Remember The Milk is a handy to-do list for busy people; the application will send a reminder to you even on Twitter. You can plan everything from shopping lists to important meetings. A user-friendly interface, not obtrusive, but insistent, notifications help you plan your time effectively. Download Remember the Milk
3. Evernote
A modern workspace that can sync with all your gadgets and work in an offline mode. You can write notes, compile lists, organize materials, add articles to the reading from the Internet, collect data for work, and discuss tasks with other users. Download Evernote
4. Basecamp 3
The application will allow you to simultaneously manage several projects, current tasks and elaborate business plans. By the way, the utility can be used by the whole team thus increasing its performance exponentially. What is more, in this application, you can work with documents and give access to them to other employees. Download Basecamp
The Bottom Line
Time is a limited resource that is constantly consumed. Unfortunately, you cannot stop using it, and you are not able to restore its reserves. Nevertheless, you need to do your best to ensure all the planned tasks are done qualitatively and in time. From planning meetings to fulfilling assignments – time is behind every aspect of doing business, and you can not afford to dispose of it badly. Ineffective time management can manifest itself in different ways. Procrastination, distraction due to personal affairs or complicated projects, there are many things that take a lot of our time every day. This is because the wasted time that you break your life-work balance, feel more stress, and are faced with tough deadlines. Fortunately, today’s modern technologies can offer us a lot of opportunities for more productive time management. Free up your schedule, find time for your personal life, and focus on doing important work. Start using performance tracking applications today already!
More Productivity Tips
7 Effective Time Management Tips To Maximize Your Productivity How to Increase Work Productivity: 9 Ground Rules 11 Differences Between Busy People And Productive People
Featured photo credit: Andrew Neel via unsplash.com
