“Time management” refers to the way that a person organises and plans how long they spend on specific activities. It may seem counter-intuitive to dedicate time to learning about time management and how to do it effectively instead of using it to get on with your work, but the benefits are enormous. Understanding time management and also understanding what works for you will increase your productivity and efficiency which will lead to a better work-life balance. During this post I am going to provide you with the current tracker that I use on a daily basis to stay organised as well as additional templates for reflection.
When lockdown started I made a version of this tracker for my team in order to trial it out and hold everyone accountable for their work weeks. Once I was happy that it was working well enough, I decided to expand on it quite a bit and here we are – I have been using the current variation for about 6 months. I can’t say that it’s always been easy, but it has helped me stay disciplined, especially during the lockdown period where working from the office wasn’t an option.
This post includes the template that I use to track what I’m doing on a daily basis as well as additional templates for personal reviews – I find that they help me hold myself accountable for what I’m working on and it’s always good to refocus and re-evaluate your goals every few months. The document is meant to serve as a tracker and basic ToDo list and, as such, does not have a portion for project management. There are many better ways to do project management, e.g. Eisenhower Matrix, Kanban, Trello, Gantt, etc. if you are looking for something more inline with that, chat to me and I can always try offer some advice on what I’ve found to work in the past. You could always use something like that on top of this template if you want a more detailed project tracker or if you have serious deadlines coming up.
The excel document contains the following template sheets:
| Template | Description |
|---|---|
| Notes | Basic notes on; why the tracker exists, how to focus, tips for reducing stress, and tips for time management. |
| Template - Quarterly | This template is meant to be used on a quarterly basis to keep yourself organised and accountable - it will also ensure that you’re happy with what you’re doing. It contains 2 additional areas: + Skills Area Section - My take on the areas available to information security consultants and what each entails at a high-level. + Setting Goals Section - My thoughts on how to begin different processes and the questions you should ask yourself before taking on more responsibility. |
| Template - Weekly | This template is meant to be updated on a daily basis to keep yourself organised and accountable. It contains the following sections: + Issues Tracker Template - Issues you have encountered during the week. + Weekly Review Template - Review of your week to determine what worked and what areas need improvement. + Monthly Review Template - Personal monthly retro style section for the final Friday of every month. |
| Template - Hourly | This is meant to be updated as needed (when you feel like something needs to change). It might not be possible to make use of this template during a work week, but it might still be nice to set some type of initial structure even if you don’t ever make use of it. |
Tips for Using the Templates for Time Management
It is very possible that this template won’t work for your specific situation. If that is that case, be creative and introduce different templates that work for you. I suggest following the steps below in order to give this template the best chance of succeeding:
- Putting things in “To Do” on a list frees your mind, but always question what is worth doing first.
- Try limiting yourself to no more than eight tasks per day. Before adding another one, complete the most important one first. Remember: It is not about collecting tasks, it’s about finishing them.
- You should only maintain one list for both business and private tasks. That way you will never be able to complain about not having done anything for your family or yourself at the end of the day.
- Do not let you or others distract you. Do not let others define your priority. Plan in the morning, then work on your tasks. And in the end, enjoy the feeling of completion.
- Finally, try not to procrastinate too much. Not even by over-managing your to-dos.
If you would like to use it, I recommend that you do the following with regards to the template pages:
- Read the descriptions for the templates - they include my own preferences and some Pros and Cons with each template style.
- For each new month, copy the Weekly tracker and create a new sheet, e.g. Weekly - September.
- For each quarter, copy the Quarterly tracker and create a new sheet, e.g Quarterly - Quarter 3, or make one sheet that contains all 4 quarters.
The excel template is here. The quick preview doesn’t seem to work at all on my blog, but it does open correctly once you download it. Feel free to use it as a base and change it as you need to. I hope this helps someone, even if it just helps you come to terms with organisation tactics that do or don’t work in your own situation.