Copyright: Pixabay I License: CC0 Public Domain
You’re sitting at your desk and struggling to stay focused on the assignment in front of you. First, your phone rang and you’ve talked to your potential customer for 10 minutes. Then, your colleague came to ask for help with a project she is working on. After all of this, you’ve lost all of the concentration you need to complete your assignment that has to be done today.
This situation happens to everyone and it happens very often. While productivity is crucial to achieving great results, ensuring you’re productive most of your working day is not that easy. Regardless are you working from home or you’re in an office surrounded by your colleagues, there are always distractions that will negatively impact your concentration. And without concentration, there is no productivity.
To be productive with all of their assignments, people have been using time tracking apps for a while now. But, are these apps truly helpful? How can a time tracking app help you improve your productivity?
Are You Productive?
If you work eight hours every day, how many hours would you say you’re actually productive? Most of us don’t have a clue. However, this information is crucial if you want to improve your performance. If you choose to use a time tracking app, you will have that information. Actually, you will have other pieces of information as well.
For instance, time tracking apps allow you to track the time you spend working on certain projects. That way, by the end of the month, you will know how many hours you spend working altogether, how many hours you’ve spent on each project and when did you work the most. Reports like these are usually very useful to individuals as they can improve their performance based on this data.
Improving Your Productivity
Can you truly improve your productivity with time tracking? It depends on what you expect from such an app. Most of the people who use this type of apps will use it to enhance their existing results. For instance, if you noticed that you’re only productive for 4 hours per day, having a time tracking app can help you increase the amount of time you are productive.
By determining what you need to do that day and having your time tracking app turned on, you will feel more motivated to complete these tasks more quickly. Being aware that your time is measured encourages you to do your best and complete the task sooner. Also, you will probably turn on your app when you feel productive, so it will not take you as much time as usual.
Copyright: Pixabay I License: CC0 Public Domain
How to Use a Time Tracking App
To make the most of your time tracking app, you will need to utilize it right. As most of them are pretty simple to use, you will not have any problems with it. However, there are a few mistakes users will make and think these apps are not for them. If you don’t feel productive, turning on a time tracker won’t help you. Instead, take a walk or grab a coffee and then return to your assignment. Time tracking apps will help you improve your productivity by being focused only on the task that’s being measured at the moment.
When you complete this task, you will feel motivated to proceed with another one. In other words, the easier it is to finish one task, it will be easier to continue with another one. When you spend hours working on something that should be done in 30 minutes, that makes you feel unmotivated to work at all, regardless of your assignments.
How to Choose the Right Tracking App
If you’re interested in getting a time tracking app to improve your productivity, you’ll be happy to hear there are plenty of them to choose from. Some of them are free and the others will require you pay to use them. Obviously, paid options will provide you with additional features such as alerts and reminders, mobile version, expense tracking, software integrations, invoicing options, and so on.
Make sure you check if the app you’re considering to use has the features you need to ensure your performance is improved. If you’re uncertain, you can always contact the company to ask them for additional explanation. Once installed on your computer, make sure you use it so it truly improves your productivity.
