There are some things that I am good at. And other things I am not good at at all. (Like folding fitted sheets and stopping myself from thinking, ‘That’s what she said…’ a thousand times a day.)
One of the things I haven’t been good at at work is entering my time into our time-tracking software at the end of each day. (I also wasn’t good at avoiding that at-at thing in the previous sentence.)
To be clear, I keep a detailed to-do list each day that lists my activities. Plus, I schedule my daily activities on my calendar, which provides a detailed log of my time. So I have records of how I spent each day for great reference. In fact, when archaeologists someday discover my notebooks, they will have a strong understanding of how I spent my days and could enter my time for me. But I expect it will be too late for us to invoice that time.
Still, I have never liked walking away from the office without completing my time entry for that day. Yet the tight demands on my schedule often meant that I did anyway.
One of my goals for 2025 was to enter my detailed time each day on the day I did the work. So, I added something new and simple to my long list of habits.
On my daily Success List (what you might call a to-do list, and what Scooby Doo might call a Scooby To-Doo list), I have added a line that says, Enter Time in Harvest. Harvest is The Weaponry’s time-tracking software.
As we started February, I noticed something interesting. I entered my time each day for the entire month of January.
The key to my behavior change was simply writing Enter Time in Harvest on my daily Success List.
I love crossing things off my list. It makes me feel accomplished. Having a list keeps me productive and focuses my time on my most important activities throughout the day. Because I already had a strong list-making and list-crossing-off habit established, I simply utilized my habit of doing the things on my daily list daily to create this valuable new habit.
The key was right in front of me all along. Or should I say, write in front of me?
Bonus: Another valuable thing I added to my daily Success List last year was the line No Social Media Before Lunch. This prevented me from falling down social media rabbit holes and wasting precious time during the golden morning hours of productivity. Again, because I love crossing things off my list, I avoided the socials between 9 am and whenever I stopped for lunch. As a result, I got more important work done each day.
Key Takeaway
You are a product of your habits. If you use a daily to-do list or Success List, try adding the behaviors you want to modify to your list. Remember, those may be behaviors you want to add or eliminate. By writing them on your daily activity guide and crossing the actions off your list at the end of the day, you may discover the easiest way to get the results you want.
*If you know someone who could benefit from this message, please share it with them.
+For more of the best life lessons I have learned check out my book, What Does Your Fortune Cookie Say? from Ripples Media.
Adam Albrecht Blog 