Looking for effective ways to manage your time better? You might want to consider using a time audit worksheet to become the master of your own time.
To help jumpstart your new and improved time-management skills, we’ve rounded up some cool examples of time audit printables that you can download for free.
Before getting to the collection, let’s first discuss what a time audit is, how it’s done, and why it’s important.
What Is a Time Audit?
A time audit is a systematic examination of the way you spend your time each day. When you’re doing a time audit, you document everything you do over a specified period of time.
During the process, you log all your activities and take note of the amount of time you spend on each of them.
Once you’ve done documenting, you can then analyze your activity log. You’ll find out how you actually spend your time each day.
For example, you might think that you’re spending the entire day doing the work assigned to you. In reality, however, you might actually be spending a good chunk of that time on social media or other time-sink websites.
By performing a time audit, you can make more intentional decisions and choices about how you spend your time.
How Is a Time Audit Done?
A worksheet designed for performing a time audit is useful for logging your daily activities.
Here are the steps for performing a time audit:
Step 1: Decide on a specific area of your life in which you want to perform a time audit (is it for your personal time, for school, or for work?)
Step 2: Set a time period for your audit. It can be as short as a few days or can run for several weeks. One important thing: Make sure you don’t set the audit during a time when you have a big event or project going on, or when you’re about to have a vacation. You want your time audit to be representative of your normal, average time usage.
Step 3: Using a worksheet, write down all your daily activities as they happen. Do this for the duration of time you’ve set for your time audit.
Step 4: Analyze the data. Once you’ve reached the end of the time period for the audit, you can review the information you’ve logged in your worksheet.
When doing a time audit, the main questions you want to ask yourself are:
Feel free to make any necessary adjustments to your daily schedule to reflect what you want to achieve after doing the audit.
Let’s check out the worksheets!
1. Klaudia’s Worksheet
To help free up time in your daily schedule so you can do the things you love, this worksheet provides a timetable where you can record your activities from 6:00 am to 10:00 pm in one-hour intervals.
Keep a log of everything you do for the entire week. This worksheet has columns for each day of the week, with a Sunday start.
Signing up for the site’s newsletter is necessary to access the free, downloadable PDF file.
2. Leslie’s Time Management Audit
If you’re looking for a worksheet to use for a one-week period, here’s one from Leslie Boyd.
This set of time audit sheets gives you ample space to write down all your activities from 12:00 am until 11:00 pm. Each day of the week is assigned a page.
After documenting all your activities for the entire week, the worksheet provides some reflection questions to help clarify the insights you’ve gained from your time audit.
3. Maureen’s Time Audit Printable
Making better use of your time starts with filling out this blue-themed time audit printable. It only takes five minutes to list down the things you need to do for the day and your top priorities.
Knowing what tasks need your attention for the day helps you plan better and accomplish them accordingly. By taking care of the essentials, you can free up time to do what you love.
Signing up for the newsletter is required to access the downloadable files library, where the worksheet can be found.
4. Linda’s 24-Hour-Day Time Audit
This worksheet gives you the writing space you need to do a 24-hour time audit.
It shows you if you’re spending enough time doing things that are truly important to you.
The worksheet comes with guide questions to help you figure out what activities to prioritize and what needs to be changed in order to accommodate these important activities. [You can also use the Eisenhower Matrix, which is another great tool for figuring out your everyday priorities.]
5. Gina’s 7-Day Time Log
This time log helps keep track of your daily activities, allowing you to analyze how you can switch things up so that you’re doing the things that are truly important to you.
To use it, you print out seven sheets—one for each day of the week. There is enough space to log your activities from 6:00 am to 10:00 pm, with 15-minute intervals.
The column marked “Observation” is for taking note of any important things that happened during your activities throughout the day.
6. Magda’s Floral Time-Wasters Worksheet
Want to know what’s causing your productivity to nosedive? This worksheet can help figure out what time-sink activities eat up your time each day at work.
It has a column for writing an action plan to prevent yourself from engaging in time-wasting activities. Finally, this worksheet has space designated for writing down the reason(s) you’re immersed in these activities.
7. Andre and Timberley’s One-Day Planner Worksheet
Manage your time wisely by keeping track of your daily priorities and tasks. This worksheet provides spaces for writing down your activities from 7:00 am to 8:00 pm, your daily to-do list, and notes.
You can print out several copies of this worksheet, depending on the number of days you’re performing a time audit. After you’ve streamlined your schedule, you can then use this worksheet to plan out your day with more meaning and a greater sense of purpose.
Final Thoughts
A time audit worksheet not only helps you master your time, but also gives you the opportunity to spend each hour of the day more meaningfully.
I hope you’ve found a favorite worksheet you want to use for your own time audit from the ones featured here today.
If you’re interested in more time-management resources, here are some articles you might want to check out:
Finally, if you want to level up your productivity and time management skills, then watch this free video about the 9 productivity habits you can build at work.
