A couple of years ago, my client Margie came to me looking for guidance on how to find a few extra hours in her week.
Now, as a partner at a law firm, Margie was busy. There’s no doubt about it.
But she was so busy that she couldn’t keep up with her work, make time for her husband, or carve out a few hours for the gym.
All she wanted was five extra hours.
So, I showed her how to do a time audit.
And by the end of it, she had claimed those hours back and more — she found 11 in total! We’ll talk about how below.
If Margie can do it, so can you.
Today, I’m going to teach you step-by-step exactly how to do a time audit.
Ready to learn how to do a time audit and get the time you’re missing back?
Let’s go!
How to do a time audit:
- Record how you spend your time over 2 weeks
- Track your time in 30-minute increments
- Use a time tracking tool or an Excel sheet
What is a time audit?
You know that saying, “Where does the time go?”
Well, a time audit helps you figure it out.
Put simply, a time audit is a deep dive into how you spend your time.
When you do a time audit, you record how much time you spend on your daily activities during a set period (I recommend two weeks).
By the end of your time audit, you’ll have a better understanding of where your hours are actually going – and chances are, your perception is different from reality.
When my client Margie finished her time audit, she was stunned.
She started out thinking she had no time to spend at the gym or with her husband – but found that she wasted 11 hours each week reading and watching the news!
That’s the beauty of learning how to do a time audit.
The results empower you to make more informed decisions about how you manage and spend your time.
And, ultimately, that knowledge will help you achieve your goals.
Hear more about the importance of understanding how to do a time audit in this video:
Are you ready to learn how to do a time audit? Then keep reading, because I’ll break it down in the next section!
How to do a time audit in 4 steps
Figuring out how to do a time audit is simple — it all starts with choosing the right time tracking tool.
Choose a time tracking tool
There are several time tracking tools on the market.
Basic tools, like simple stopwatches, timers, or smartphone apps, are great for a more straightforward approach to how to do a time audit.
Some online task managers can also help you track your time.
But there are also advanced tools that have features like automatic time tracking, project management integration, and even AI.
Truthfully, it all depends on what you’re looking for.
A few examples include:
But at the end of the day, knowing how to do a time audit doesn’t call for fancy tools.
An Excel sheet or even a pen and paper both work just fine.
Keep a time tracking diary for 2 weeks
The key to a successful time audit is being consistent.
So, for two weeks, track every hour of your day in 30-minute increments.
Two weeks. That’s all it takes.
I’ll tell you more about why time tracking is so crucial to finding more time in your schedule in this video:
But here’s the catch.
You’re going to be tempted to change your behaviors because you know you’re being watched (even if it’s by you).
This is totally normal! It’s called the Hawthorne effect.
But whatever you do, don’t give in and change how you’re spending your time. You’re not here to judge yourself – just to get the data and draw conclusions.
Analyze your results
At the end of the two weeks, take some time to sit down and really study the data you’ve gathered.
Start by categorizing your time and grouping activities according to their purpose. This could include work tasks, chores, self-care, relationships, and more.
Next, look for the areas that are taking up a disproportionate amount of your time. You may need to cut back on them.
Finally, identify activities you can streamline and make a more efficient use of your time.
Change how you use your time
Having the data is just the beginning.
But the real benefit of knowing how to do a time audit is being able to use the data to make lasting and impactful changes.
First, identify and prioritize your most important goals. This might involve scheduling dedicated blocks of time to focus on them throughout the week.
Next, optimize your day by figuring out your most productive times.
For context, research has found that most people hit their peak production hours in the early afternoon.
Regardless of what yours are, find ways to schedule the most demanding tasks for your peak productivity hours.
Finally, keep looking for new time management methods until you find a system that works for you.
Remember, understanding how to do a time audit is just the start.
So track your progress, make changes when needed, and celebrate your wins, and you’ll be on your way to a more productive life in no time.
Now that we’ve covered how to do a time audit, let’s discuss why you should do one.
Why should you do a time audit?
You might be wondering if you really need to learn how to do a time audit.
Surely you can just throw together a rough estimate of how you’re spending your time and still find ways to make impactful changes, right?
Wrong. That couldn’t be further from the truth.
Knowing how to do a time audit is important for three reasons:
- We need data to be successful
- We’re terrible estimators
- Tracking our time improves how we spend it
Let’s start with why data is so vital to our success.
1. We need data
Ballpark estimates aren’t enough when it comes to figuring out where our time is going, and I’ll tell you why.
We have cognitive biases that keep us from seeing how we’re actually spending our time, like:
- Mere Urgency Effect: Prioritizing “urgent” tasks, even if they’re less important than non-urgent ones.
- Planning Fallacy: Underestimating the time a task will take to complete, which leads us to believe we have more free time than we do.
- Present Bias: Choosing to complete tasks with a smaller, more immediate reward rather than ones with a larger reward that comes later.
Having data helps us see things like this more clearly.
But here’s the catch: It only works if it’s your data.
Why?
Because that makes it real and relevant.
For example, it wouldn’t have mattered to Margie if someone else was watching the news for 11 hours a week.
But because her life was impacted, she immediately looked for ways to change how she spent her time.
2. We are bad at estimating our time
People can’t estimate – and research proves it.
That’s because it’s hard to truly estimate anything, from how much food we eat to how many hours of sleep we get each night.
And we definitely aren’t good at estimating how we spend our time.
Laura Vanderkam’s book, 168 Hours, is one of my favorite examples of this.
When she looked at Census data and had hundreds of people do time audits, here’s what she found:
- People who thought they worked 40 hours a week worked less than 35
- People who claimed to work 80 hours a week worked less than 60
- People slept more than they believed
And, most surprisingly, working mothers only spend 20% less face time with their children than stay-at-home mothers do.
Why does it matter?
Because if our beliefs about how we spend our time are off, our narratives and opinions of ourselves are, too.
3. Tracking time improves time management
Remember the Hawthorne effect I mentioned earlier?
When you track your time in 30-minute increments, you’ll find that you make a concerted effort to spend your time more wisely and become more productive.
After all, what gets measured gets managed.
It works for people trying to lose weight, improve their sleep habits, and enhance their mental health.
Why wouldn’t it work for time?
We all have 24 hours in a day.
But when you figure out how to track your time, you’ll probably find that those 24 hours are longer than you realized.
Do you need a jumping-off point for time tracking? Then keep reading, because I’ll give you a template to use in the next section!
Time audit template
When it comes to creating a time audit template that works for you, there are a few things to consider:
- Your goals: Think about what you want to achieve by learning how to do a time audit. Are you looking for ways to streamline your work or find a better work-life balance? Knowing what you’re working toward will help you create the most effective template.
- How you’ll track your time: Do you prefer to use an app or do it manually with a pen and paper or Excel spreadsheet?
- The information you want to collect: This includes things like the date and time, activities, categories, and time spent on each activity.
Above all, keep it simple! Don’t get bogged down in so many details that you end up throwing the towel in before you get helpful data.
If you’re still not sure where to start when it comes to how to do a time audit, don’t worry.
We’ve got you covered.
Here’s a simple time audit template to help get you off on the right foot.
Time Audit Template
Date: [Enter date]
Time Period: [Enter time period, e.g., “Week of MM/DD/YYYY”]
Activities:
- Activity Name: [Enter activity name]
- Time Spent: [Enter time spent in hours and minutes]
- Description/Notes: [Optional: Brief description of the activity]
- Activity Name: [Enter activity name]
- Time Spent: [Enter time spent in hours and minutes]
- Description/Notes: [Optional: Brief description of the activity]
- Activity Name: [Enter activity name]
- Time Spent: [Enter time spent in hours and minutes]
- Description/Notes: [Optional: Brief description of the activity]
[Continue adding activities as necessary]
Total Time Spent: [Calculate the total time spent during the time period]
What’s next?
Well, there you have it!
A full guide on how to do a time audit and why they’re so crucial to your success and productivity.
Understanding how to do a time audit is one thing, but actually using that data to change your habits is another.
That’s where having a plan and a support system comes into play.
And that’s what becoming a member of the Lifehack Tribe can do for you.
