Work log

For the past few months, I’ve been keeping a work log in a Field Notes pocket notebook.

One page per day. At the top of the page, I list meetings I have that day. The rest of the page is a list of project tasks that I completed. It’s a Done list. Not a To Do list.

I don’t log every little task. If I spend a lot of time on miscellaneous emails or following up with people, I just write “email admin” or “follow-ups” as one line item.

I don’t log time, unless I’m working on something that’s not usually my responsibility.

Every page is a simple list, so logging doesn’t take a lot of time. It doesn’t feel like a chore.

Every few weeks, I review pages and look for patterns. What kinds of tasks have I been doing a lot? Am I doing the right mix of work? What work has led to positive impacts?

I’ve been logging and reviewing like this since May. I do a lot of different kinds of work in my position, so it’s helpful to have a place where I can review what I’ve been working on.

In the past, I tried more detailed logging and tracking time for all tasks (even though my job doesn’t require it). But that made logging feel like busy work. This simpler method works much better for me.