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When someone mentions the word productivity, often the first concept that comes to your mind is probably time in fact, it is how we actually define productivity; how long it takes you to finish a certain task, and how much you can get done in a certain amount of time. Therefore, it makes perfect sense that managing your time in the best way possible will result in higher productivity, and one of the ways to do just that is to use software-based time tracking tools.
As the name suggests, time tracking tools are easy-to-use, intuitive apps that can help you keep track of how long it takes you (or your employees) to finish a certain task. This is essential if youre the manager of a company with multiple employees under your guidance that you need to monitor, but it can also be a great help if youre working solo.
The Power of Deadlines
People perform better and more efficiently when they have deadlines this is a simple fact. When your time is being tracked, and you see a timer telling you that you took twice as long as you expected to complete a task, it isnt really a good feeling, and then youll naturally try to avoid that happening in the future even if you dont have a real deadline to work against.
The same goes for your employees; when they know theyre on the clock and that youll be able to see how fast theyre working, it serves as a healthy motivator to work as hard as they can. People like to be viewed as fast, efficient and capable, and for that reason alone we will put more work in if we know that its going to count.
A Better Sense of Time
Another benefit of tracking your time is that it can help you get a better grasp of how much time you actually need to do something. It might be less than you think, and it might be more, but the fact is that the more you are aware of this, the better youll be able to leverage your time and make a plan that can make you as efficient as possible.
This way youll be able to market yourself better by giving realistic deadlines to your client that you know youll be able to meet, and this is something that every client likes to see.
Simpler, Faster Invoices
If you run your own business you probably know how much time invoicing can eat up. Many of these apps now have a built-in feature to automatically calculate how much you should charge a client, or how much an employee should be paid by factoring in an hourly rate, and the amount of time that was spent on the project in question. This saves you the hassle of having to do all that math yourself, and this makes things much simpler, and much faster.
Tracking Tools In A Nutshell
The great thing about these tools is that they were designed to waste as little of your time as possible (otherwise it would pretty much defeat the purpose). Once youve used any time tracking tool youll find that you can probably find your way around any of them, so theres no need to worry that you arent tech-savvy enough to handle this kind of technology.
Final Words
We are constantly bombarded with items fighting for our attention and sometimes its really difficult to resist the temptation when you need to focus on your tasks. Whether its for personal use or for business, keeping track of your time can really have a positive effect on your productivity in the long run. When you take a step back and analyze all the small elements which constitute your time-drains, you can make a better decision on how to organize your day stay more focused on the tasks that need to be done.
