Time audit worksheet you can fill in privately
Updated 4 min read By David from TimeRetain
Download worksheet This PDF has three day tables and a review page. Write start when you begin, and write end when you stop or pause. When you begin again, use a new row.
This page shows how to fill that PDF. For the method, see what a time audit is. It is not a timesheet to submit.
The download is a two-page PDF. Type in a reader, or print it and write. Keep the finished file on your device.
What is on the worksheet
Page one is the log: three tables, one per day, with start, end, and note. One row each time you begin. Rough times are fine.
Use ordinary days, not a launch week or a trip. Three weekdays are a snapshot. They will not show a weekend, and three days may not show a reliable Monday-versus-Friday pattern.
Page two is the review: where the hours went, what surprised you, hours vs value. Under that, two lists: keep watching, and let go.
There is no rate column or client field. The rows are not a half-hour grid. A grid makes you watch the clock instead of the work.
How to fill each line
When you begin, write the start time. When you stop or pause, write the end. When you begin again, use a new row.
- Start and end. Use the time you would tell a friend. 09:10 to 09:55 is close enough.
- Note. Name the work. “Inbox and Slack” tells you something; “Busy” does not. A few words beat a blank.
Do not set a repeating alarm. A 15-minute chime changes the day you meant to measure. Write the times at each switch. If you stayed on one block, you can fill a gap later from two check-ins.
Leave rows blank if the day was quiet.
A filled day
A sample day:
| Start | End | Note |
|---|---|---|
| 09:10 | 09:55 | Inbox and Slack, reactive |
| 09:55 | 11:20 | First pass on the proposal |
| 11:20 | 12:00 | Weekly catch-up, ran long |
| 13:00 | 13:40 | Receipts and calendar cleanup |
Inbox took the first 45 minutes. The proposal starts at 09:55. The weekly catch-up takes the rest of the morning.
The gap after 12:00 is a pause. The next row starts when work begins again.
Those notes are easier to write if nobody else will read them.
After three days, fill the back
Fill page two after you have three days of rows.
Before you reread the days, write one line: where you think the hours went.
Read the days once. Write:
- Where the hours went. Which kind of work took the most clock time. One sentence.
- What surprised you. A block that felt short and was not, or the other way around.
- Hours vs value. The work that ate the day, next to the work that actually moved something.
Then split what you found. Keep watching is for a habit you are changing, or hours you have to report. Let go is for the rest.
If you want a plan for the hours that remain, a time budget is the next sheet. The audit shows what those days did. The budget sets a ceiling for next week.
A daily work log answers a different question: what finished, and what got in the way. Fill that at the end of the day if you want a handoff to tomorrow-you. Do not merge it into the audit rows.
Keep the file on your own device
Save the finished PDF on your device. Do not drop it in a shared drive “for later.” If you print it, do not leave it in a stack someone else can read.
Use a local-first timer for the lines you keep watching. The audit can stay on paper. The follow-up record does not have to leave your machine.
If Keep watching has a couple of lines, TimeRetain is a manual timer on your device. Start when the block starts, stop when you switch, add a short note. No account.
Keep a private timer for the few things the worksheet said to watch.
Put the file away
When the three tables and the review are filled, close the file. Leave Keep watching for the few lines that still need a timer.
Questions and Answers
What is a time audit worksheet?
A time audit worksheet is a two-page fillable log. Page one has three day tables with start, end, and note. Page two is the review: a one-line guess, where the hours went, what surprised you, hours vs value, then keep watching and let go.
How do you fill out a time audit worksheet?
Write start when you begin, and write end when you stop or pause. When you begin again, use a new row. Add a short note, skip repeating alarms, and leave quiet rows blank.
How many days should a time audit worksheet cover?
This worksheet has three day tables. Fill ordinary days, not a launch week or a trip. Three weekdays are a snapshot, not a full week.
Is a time audit worksheet the same as a timesheet?
No. This worksheet is a private three-day audit, not a timesheet to submit for payroll or a client.
Can I type into the time audit worksheet PDF?
Yes. The fields are fillable in a PDF reader. You can also print the worksheet and write on it. Keep the finished file on your own device.