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I was reading an article about willpower and how to build it over at the Willpowered site and I was fired up by trying to keep track of my money.

I got some software for that, but as I searched I also came across other software like Toggl and those used for organizing things, as I discussed in Organizing Time. One of them was Toggl. I realized that I needed to keep track of my time more than organize it, and Toggl was the easiest and most flexible too out there.

I did not want a tool for helping me organize my time. When I use traditional organizing tools, I tend to make systems that are too complex. Then in the end I have an unusable tool and end up wasting my time. This relates to what I discussed in Organizing Time, where I found that simplicity was key. Either that or managing the system uses time itself and I waste time managing the system. This time I just wanted a snapshot of how I used my time. Toggl does that. But the amazing side effect that I discovered was: simply taking the snapshot has changed how I use my time. Now, I am much more aware of what I am doing and why and when. My time has become even more valuable to me, and I am already wasting less of it simply by recording what I do.

I found this simple tactic to work well with my finances too. Now that I watch my money more carefully, I tend to use less, which relates to my experience with managing finances as discussed in New Year's Resolution. Setting up the discipline to keep track of things has also helped manage them in an unexpected way.

One feature I appreciate about Toggl is its tagging system, which allows me to categorize tasks by students, similar to how I've set up systems for other areas of my life, like in New Year's Resolution. Now I can take a look at which students are taking how much time, and respond accordingly. I find this really convenient. Setting it up takes a bit of time, but it is not unreasonable. So far, I love Toggl!