This brief article is about real-time productivity tracking and how time tracking can boost your productivity.

Time tracking tools help you track where you are spending your time. They provide detailed reporting and insights on things such as time spent on different websites/apps and tasks. They also identify which time during the day is most productive for you.

Many people turn to time tracking when they feel they could better manage their personal and professional lives. If you often feel like there’s not enough time in a day and don’t have time to waste on small repetitive tasks, using a real-time tracker is a thing to consider.

Without further ado, here are some ways in which time tracking can help you improve your productivity.

Uncover areas of improvement

Time tracking software tracks the tasks and projects you are working on. For example, you can now know how much time you spent designing a website or creating a marketing campaign. 

You can see how many hours it’s taking to accomplish specific tasks. Tasks or projects that are taking longer than expected indicate scope for improvement. You can then develop corrective actions or remedies to fill the gaps effectively.

Time tracking, in this way, can allow you to be more efficient and productive.

Accountability

When you track your time, you become more conscious of where you are spending your time. Businesses often try out a time clock app when they want to spark a sense of responsibility among their employees. Giving everyone a deadline and then tracking the time they’re taking to complete a task can push them toward becoming more accountable. In turn, this helps businesses improve productivity.

With real-time tracking apps, you become more mindful of limiting the duration of in-between breaks and other non-work-related activities. You become more accountable.

Your productivity and output increase. As a result, you boost their work integrity and professionalism.

Find Productivity Patterns

When you analyze your time tracking data, you are bound to discover insights that can help you become more productive.

You can figure out which hours of the day you are usually most productive and optimize your day. For example, taking a short break or even a power nap to recharge themselves could help.

Users can also figure out whether they are constantly overworking. It is easy to unconsciously spend late nights at work without realizing that it leads to overfatigue, stress, lack of sleep, and other unhealthy work habits.

Real-time tracking data will help uncover insights that you might have missed in day-to-day work.

Reduced Administrative Work

Real-time tracking tools help you understand how much time you spend on administrative and financial work or tasks that do not add value to your work or cannot be billed to a customer. You can then figure out whether some of these mundane tasks can either be automated or delegated so that they can focus on more value-adding tasks. 

Similarly, suppose you manage a team. In that case, time tracking tools can help you and your team auto-generate timesheets with just a few clicks. As a project manager, you can approve them individually or in bulk.

Time tracking tools also yield precise information that you would need for creating invoices and settling payroll accounts. You can even automate salary calculations with these tools, including overtime pay under local regulations or employee contracts.

Conclusion

Consistent productivity is key to success, but you need to pay attention to the various factors that impact it — both positive and negative.

We already know that you can improve things you can measure better than those you cannot. A great time tracking tool makes this possible and more efficient. It’s not just about logging hours and filling out timesheets. The data obtained is a gold mine that allows you to improve productivity, efficiency, and motivation. This way, you can take a productive approach without extra effort.

Recommended: Time Management Reporting