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Automate Time Tracking on your iPhone with Timing and Siri Shortcuts
Two weeks ago, we covered how to use the Timing Web App to start and stop tasks on the go. Today, you will learn how you can use Siri shortcuts to start and stop tasks, without having to open the web app at all. This means you can start tracking even faster than before — without wasting time loading the web app.
You can even come up with a custom voice command to open your shortcut — “do work”, “get it done”, “every day I’m hustling” — are all perfectly acceptable options. Let your imagination run freely. There’s nothing like commanding your phone to “get er done” at the start of a meeting…
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10 Steps for Optimizing Your Time Tracking with Timing
If you’re a freelancer, you probably already know that time tracking is, well, worth your time.
On a micro-scale, time tracking gives you valuable insight into how long you spend on specific projects and activities; your most productive hours of the day; and what, if anything, may be distracting you from your priorities.
On a macro-scale, time tracking can help you develop greater time management skills, become more productive, and earn more cash (who doesn’t want that?).
That being said, there’s a right (and wrong) way to track your time. Tracking your time incorrectly, which often results from manual tracking or start-and-stop timers, can do you more harm than good by giving you an inaccurate picture of how you spend your precious minutes and hours.
But by following strategic steps in your time tracking, you can get the most out of this wise and productive habit – helping you to gain more detailed, in-depth knowledge of your own work habits, speed, and level of efficiency.
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Timing 2019.1: Undo Support and Usability Improvements
We are happy to announce the release of Timing 2019.1! Read on for the update’s full release notes.
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How to Get Your Employees to Start Tracking Time
In order to make smart, informed business decisions, you have to be acutely aware of how you are spending your time.
Freelancers tend to have a more innate realization of this, since the impact of time spent versus value received is more obvious. After all, it’s imperative to a freelancer’s direct income that he or she properly bill clients for hours spent working or projects delivered.
However, this concept also applies to larger businesses—actually even more so. If being conscious of time is important for a single worker, think of that significance as you multiply the amount of people working.
Productivity and awareness are critical to a lean team, and the impacts can seem more apparent on a smaller scale. But with a bigger team, the seemingly minor effects of wasted hours can add up—creating a big hole in productivity and earning potential for a business.
That’s why being cognizant of how your employees are spending their time each day can have such a colossal impact on your bottom line.
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MacSparky Video Guide for Timing now available!
We have partnered with David Sparks (also known as MacSparky) to create a five-part video guide on Timing! The first few videos offer a great way to get started with Timing, while the later ones dive deep into Timing’s more advanced features such as rules and manual tracking.
In particular, you will learn:
- How Timing can help make your time tracking easier and more accurate.
- How you can categorize your activities in Timing, letting you see exactly what you worked on at any given time.
- How you can manually capture time entries and calendar events or meetings into Timing.
- How you can set up your projects for maximum efficiency.
- What more advanced, “power user” features Timing offers.
Read on to watch all five videos!
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Becoming a Champ at Time Tracking
Time is arguably the most valuable currency in life. We are all allotted the same amount of it in a day, but we never know how much of it we will have in a lifetime. That’s why it is so precious.
In order to live a fulfilling life, we must be extremely cognizant of how we are spending our time each and every day.
Many of us would prefer to spend our time with family and friends, enjoying the simple pleasures of life, and feeding our brains.
However, we can’t do all those things without financial stability. Though money certainly isn’t the most important factor of life, it does award us freedom and security. Which is why time tracking is so important not just in terms of work, but our whole lives.
Maximizing productivity in our work lives means we are giving ourselves the opportunity to not work harder, but instead work smarter. Once we master this, we find we are able to spend less time making the income we need to live a balanced and rewarding life.
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The Top Reasons to Track Time, Unrelated to Work
When we think about time tracking, we mostly think about it being a best practice for work purposes.
Tracking time boosts productivity, allows freelancers to accurately bill clients for projects, and gives us a better sense of how long a task may take (which can help both with planning and developing scopes of work).
But did you know that tracking time is also essential for your life outside of work?
Regardless of what fills your hours and days, time management is something nearly all of us struggle with.
We all have a lot of responsibilities and expectations, both from external and internal sources—work (of course), family obligations, friendships to nurture, personal health and wellness, and the daily maintenance of life.
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3 Common Mistakes Freelancers Make
Flexibility. Control. Being your own boss. Making your own schedule. Setting your own terms.
There are many advantages to being a freelancer in today’s uber-connected world. Telecommuting eliminates some of the daily grind and provides a landscape for more productive and efficient work. On top of that, having the freedom to pick and choose which clients to take on allows you to feel more invested in projects.
If you are currently freelancing, you aren’t alone. In fact, it’s estimated that the majority of the U.S. workforce will be freelance by 2027.
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How to Re-Sign (& Renegotiate) Client Contracts
It’s that time of year again. And no, we’re not talking about holiday spirit or New Year’s resolutions (though if you want to read about personal planning ahead for the upcoming year, check out our latest article: Setting & Achieving Goals for 2019).
We’re talking about another kind of planning—the kind that pertains to companies of all sizes and shapes. We’re talking about budgeting.
If you are a freelancer, your clients are likely busy putting together projections, goals, and contracts for the coming year.
As a vendor, your services are currently being evaluated and discussed. Even if you are lucky enough to have a contract signed with a particular client that covers you for future months, your performance and value are still being weighed against operational costs.
It’s the natural cycle of business—as 2018 wraps up, plans to have a more successful (read: profitable) year in 2019 are set into motion.
That’s why it’s important to get ahead of the game, get your data together, and discuss contracts with your clients.
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Steps for Finding (and Securing) New Business Opportunities
We talk a lot about being a freelancer or small business owner, and the benefits of being your own boss.
You can be selective about projects, have flexibility in your schedule, and control your own processes and outcomes. We outlined a lot of the advantages of being out on your own in our previous article, Are You Ready to Freelance?
However, being the CEO of your one-person business comes with additional, CEO-level responsibilities, including project management, bookkeeping, new business development, and billing.
Your income (and, likely, livelihood) is dependent on your ability to maximize your time and pack as much work into your desired daily, weekly, or monthly goal.
Throughout every freelancer’s journey, there is a constant need to assess workflow—have you taken on too much at once, or are you actually not filling enough of your time?
In this article, we take a look at how to know when it’s time to take on new projects, and the steps necessary to do just that.
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