Once I find an app I like, I try to stick with it. I know no app is perfect. I’ve created and collected more feature requests than I can count. They all are missing something and I’ve had my share of hours slip by on shiny new apps and very long rabbit holes trying to find the perfect fit. Truth is, I’m a total gadget-geek and truly try to make sure I know what I need before I go hunting or I waste a lot of time. 

But you have to know when to jump ship. I couldn’t handle it anymore – the time tracker I was using didn’t show the actual times of day the chunk of time was for. So I had to try something new.

Why did I need to see these times? Admittedly, I’m not the best when it comes to tracking time. I try very hard at it, but sometimes I focus in too quickly and just forget. I generally remember when I started working on something, but this was not something that I wanted to have to keep tabs on. I’m sure you feel me on this.  

So I jumped into Toggl. Maybe it was the purple on dark mode that had me at first sight. Or those bold color blocks. And drag and drop on the calendar view. I was loving it!  

I prefer an installed Mac desktop app for services I use a lot instead of having it in a browser, so I was happy to find the download link. I also installed the browser extension, which works within many apps like Asana and Google Docs.

And then I hovered on a little switch – ‘Record activity.’ WHAT?! On your local machine, with the installed app, it will record your activity noting which app or website you were working on for how many minutes.

It was a life-changing moment!  

So now, when I forget to start the clock, I have two ways to take the effort from myself and be precise in my time tracking because I have also enabled a feature which reminds me to start tracking my time.

I keep finding ways to improve the use of my time by diving into their features further. For example, I’ve decided to start tracking more of what I do, including my time to further my knowledge. I think it will tie in well with my self-care strategy. I’d like to try the Pomodoro Timer soon too. And as I get to know the app, I’m sure they will have more features I’ll be excited to try in the future!

Toggl has been an amazing help, and I recommend it for anyone wanting to track projects for yourself and clients or if you want to track your day and improve your time management.