I stopped tracking my time. Now I can't focus
I'm getting more done than ever, and I've never felt more scattered.
One of the most freeing things I’ve ever done in my business is to stop tracking time.
I used to religiously track where I spent my time when on my computer. Client work in one bucket, personal branding in another, and side projects/adventures in a third. Inside of those, I would then categorize which engagement/project I was working on.
At the end of the year, it was awesome! I had this huge breakdown of where all of my time went. I could even cross-reference it against what each thing made money-wise and figure out my effective billable rate. Which sometimes was super empowering. But for side projects? Super depressing. :P
I’ve launched more than a handful of “things” that made no money at all. And spent a ton of time working on them.
As time went on, I found myself taking a few seconds to pick which project to bill time to. “Ok, let’s go build this thing!” “Oh, let me track time first.” “Hmm, is this personal branding? Marketing? A side project that I haven’t solidified yet?”