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TIME AUDIT INSTRUCTIONS
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Purpose: Doing a Time Audit will help you see patterns in how you use your time.
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Instructions: Go to the second tab in the sheet (called Audit Sheet). Before lunch and at the end of the day, set a calendar reminder to track how you spent your time. Do this for 1 week straight.
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How to debrief:Ask yourself: What am I spending most of my time on? Categorize each activity as:
1) Value-add – Directly impacts revenue, efficiency, or strategic goals.
2) Neutral – Necessary but not high-impact (e.g., admin work).
3) Negative – Time wasted on things that don’t matter.
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TIPS
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1. Choose a 'normal' week. Don’t conduct an audit when you’re on vacation, during the holidays, during your biggest client’s launch week, or when you’re covering for a team member who’s out. There will be times when you need to adjust your priorities for a short period of time to accommodate “LIFE STUFF.”
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2. Set a reminder Set a reminder every day, multiple times a day. You’re likely to forget you’re doing a time audit. Set reminders on your phone, in your calendar, on a sticky note on your screen.
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3. Take off the rose-colored glasses. Most of us, especially without an accountability partner, are prone to “padding” our schedules a bit. You might catch yourself thinking, “Sure, I looked through my Instagram feed for 15 minutes, but then I got right back to work, so I’m not going to write it down.” Don’t do that—you’re only hurting yourself! Write down everything because, in the end, you might find that 15 minutes per day during your work day amounts to an hour by the end of the week. Maybe you'll find that you need that “brain break” to be at your best, or maybe you see that you’re procrastinating on another task that you hate doing. Either way, it’s all useful info.
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