Ever feel like you’re going 100 miles per hour, but the to-do list keeps growing, and there’s no time left for a breather or quality family moments? You’re not the first to be overwhelmed (and certainly not the last), but with better time management, you can find that elusive work-life balance.
And, no. We’re not trying to get you to track your time just to see where your minutes go. The goal should be less about trying to cram more into your day and more about understanding where your time goes so that you can make intentional choices as needed.
Categorizing your time entries gives you a bird’s-eye view of your life. From up there, everything looks a lot clearer. You can see where you’re burning too much fuel and where you need to kick it into high gear. So, let’s look at 13 time tracking categories that’ll help you shift your life into smooth, comfortable cruise control.
TL;DR — Key Takeaways
- Categorizing your time entries can help you spot trends, optimize your workflow, and reduce stress, all while achieving a better work-life balance.
- Work-related categories like billable vs. non-billable tasks, meetings, project work, administrative duties, and deep work can streamline your professional life.
- On the flip side, life-related categories like family time, exercise and health, leisure and hobbies, household chores, and personal development keep your personal life in check.
- Use software (like Toggl Track) to get accurate, real-time data and make informed decisions that enhance your productivity.
What’s the point of categorizing your time entries?
Well, assuming you’re tracking your time already to even have time entries to categorize, sorting your activities into distinct categories allows you to start to see patterns emerge. For example, you might see where you’re spending too much time, where you could be more efficient, and where you might be neglecting important aspects of your life.
Taking a structured approach like this can boost your productivity by allowing you to zero in on those high-priority tasks while minimizing time-wasters. This improves your focus and reduces stress. It can also help you balance your work and personal life better. Say goodbye to constant catch-up and hello to feeling well-rested!
Work-related time tracking categories
Work-related categories enable you and your employees to track time and compartmentalize your professional tasks, making it easier to track where your time goes when you’re on the clock. When you can track and visualize how your hours are allocated, you can identify improvement areas. By recognizing when you’re spending hours in meetings that could have easily been emails, you can reclaim that time and restructure your schedule to enhance your professional productivity.
Billable vs. non-billable
Let’s get a few definitions straight. Billable work refers to tasks you can directly charge clients for, such as project consultations, design work, or coding sessions. Non-billable work, on the other hand, includes activities like internal meetings, training, and administrative tasks that don’t generate direct revenue.
Employee time tracking of billable and non-billable work is important for accurate client billing (especially hourly rates). It can help you charge clients correctly while optimizing your team’s time or resources. Understanding this distinction gives you clear insights into which activities drive profitability and which may need streamlining. Maybe non-billable tasks take up most of your day, signaling you need to rework these processes.


Pssst…doing all this leads to better project outcomes and a healthier bottom line. Who doesn’t want that?
Meetings
Meetings might be billable or non-billable, depending on their purpose (for example, is this a strategy session with your client that can be invoiced or an internal training meeting?). By accurately logging and categorizing these meetings, you can guarantee your clients are billed fairly and your non-billable time is managed efficiently.
For example, if you notice your weekly team stand-ups are always running over, you can make adjustments, like sticking to the agenda or limiting the duration. Tracking this data can also reveal whether certain meetings are necessary at all. If a particular meeting could be replaced with a quick email or chat, you can make those changes to free up more time for high-impact tasks.
This means better time management, clearer communication, and a more focused approach to meeting your business goals!
Project work
You should log the hours spent on your project’s tasks to get a clear picture of where your team’s time is being invested and whether it aligns with your specific project goals.
Setting realistic time goals for each task is key. Start by breaking down larger projects into manageable phases and creating a time tracking category for each phase. This helps monitor progress, and you can also rest easy knowing that no part of the project is overlooked.
If you’re an agency working on a marketing campaign, you might have sub-categories that look like “Research,” “Content Creation,” “Design,” or “Review.” By tracking time with ultra-specific categories, you can identify bottlenecks and address them proactively.


This granular approach prevents overwork, keeps you on track to meet your deadlines, and gives you the information you need to fill out your timesheet and bill clients accurately.
Administrative tasks
If you don’t track administrative tasks, you might wonder where your workday went. Admin work can easily pile up and take away time from high-impact tasks. Log all the time spent on busy work like scheduling, paperwork, or emailing to identify any inefficiencies in your workflow.
Emails taking up half your day? Try using email filters or setting up automated responses. And don’t be afraid to invest in a project management tool or two (we promise it’s not cheating) to alleviate some of this admin work.

With less admin work and more time for creative endeavors, you’ll be much more productive, and the workday will be more enjoyable.
Deep work
Deep work refers to periods of intense, undistracted focus on cognitively demanding tasks — essential for producing the high-quality results your work demands. Tracking these sessions helps you understand how much time you truly dedicate to deep work. It also identifies patterns that enhance (or hinder) your concentration.
Minimize distractions by turning off your notifications, finding a quiet space where you can concentrate, and letting colleagues know this is your “do-not-disturb” time. Dedicate around 90-minute intervals to these tasks, and give yourself some much-needed downtime when you finish.


More time for deep work means an uptick in concentration, creativity, and efficiency. When you prioritize and track deep work, you can achieve more in less time!
Client communication
If you want to improve your service delivery and client satisfaction, you should definitely track the time spent on client interactions. This is especially important for professionals like freelancers, lawyers, or agency workers who often juggle multiple clients and projects.
Logging these interactions gives you a solid understanding of how much time is devoted to billable versus non-billable tasks, improving the accuracy of your invoicing. And this helps you optimize your schedule, making sure you’re maximizing productivity and profitability.

Toggl Track is great for lawyers time tracking their billable vs non-billable hours as well as agencies looking for time tracking software to refine their client management strategies.
Learning, training, and development
Spending work hours on training and learning is a great way to grow professionally and enhance your skills. But it’s still time that needs to be tracked, whether you’re taking courses, attending webinars, or engaging with other educational resources.
By logging these hours, you can picture how much time you’re investing in your development, which is essential for staying competitive in your field. It gives you measurable proof of your commitment to self-improvement and can even boost your motivation by making your progress visible and tangible.
Life-related time tracking categories
While it might seem unusual to track time for personal activities, doing so can be a game-changer. If you spend some time categorizing your time into areas like family, leisure, or chores, you get a clearer picture of how well you’re actually balancing your life.
This info can prevent burnout and adjust your routine so you’re not neglecting areas that bring you joy and keep you healthy. If you notice you’re spending too much time on work and not enough on hobbies, it’s time to carve out more time for self-care.
Not sure how to do that? Here’s an example from one Reddit user who uses Toggl Track to visualize the time they’re spending on categories like health, learning, relaxation, and social.
Family time
Relationships are important, and tracking the time you spend with family can be incredibly rewarding. Let’s face it — our lives are hectic, and it’s easy to let work and other commitments overshadow the moments that really matter. Set aside specific time slots reserved just for family activities like dinner or walks in the park to make sure those relationships are a priority.
Exercise and health
Whether it’s meal prep, meditation, or a workout, set aside dedicated time for these activities in your life. By keeping a log, you can stay motivated by seeing your progress. A healthy mind and body make you feel more energized and resilient to tackle all the other important areas of your life.
Leisure and hobbies
Tracking your leisure activities and hobbies is just as important as tracking your work and responsibilities. These moments of relaxation and personal interest are crucial for maintaining a balanced lifestyle. Set aside specific time for hobbies like reading, painting, or playing music to enhance your creativity and reduce the risk of burnout. Here’s where you can also allocate a set amount of time for some social media scrolling!
Household chores
Chores can pile up, but if you track the time spent on them, you can better manage these domestic duties. Keeping a log shows you how much time each task takes, which helps when you’re planning and prioritizing, especially between family members.

This transparency makes it easier to share chores fairly amongst each other, ensuring everyone contributes and no one feels overburdened.
Personal development
Just like you might track work-related learning and training, you should also track personal growth activities. This might be reading, learning new skills, or attending workshops. These activities enrich your life and open doors to new opportunities. So, make a commitment to yourself and start tracking your personal development to stay on track and achieve your goals.
Best practices for creating and using time tracking categories
Stick with whatever works best for you when it comes to creating and using tracking categories. But if you’re having trouble getting started, here are our top time tracking best practices:
- Keep it simple: Don’t confuse yourself (or others) with complicated category names — use straightforward language to ensure everyone understands what each category is for.
- Be consistent: You have to track your time consistently if you want your insights to mean anything valuable, so make sure all your team members use the same categories.
- Regularly review and adjust: Check in regularly to ensure your categories are still relevant as your business evolves or your personal life changes — it’s okay to add, remove, or modify!
- Limit the number of categories: Too many categories can be overwhelming (and confusing), so stick to a manageable number that covers all the necessary areas without being overly complex.
- Integrate with other tools: Sync your time tracking categories with time blocking or time tracking apps to make sure your entries are accurate.
- Align with goals: Create categories that reflect your business operations or personal ambitions—like “admin tasks” or “exercise.”

Use Toggl Track Goals to make sure you never miss an important deadline or neglect to set aside time for habit-building. For example, you might set a goal, such as “I want to track at least two hours a week on personal development.”

Tips for maximizing the effectiveness of time tracking data
Small activities add up and can go unnoticed if you don’t track them. Be sure to track every activity relevant to your goals and objectives and categorize them properly. This way, when you go to analyze your data, you’ll be able to identify trends or patterns accurately.
Which tasks consume the most time? Which clients are most profitable? You can answer these questions by looking at your time tracking data to improve your decision-making and efficiency. These insights will identify the high-value tasks to prioritize, as well as the low-value ones you may want to automate or delegate.
Do you need time tracking software for this?
Time tracking software may not be a “need” when it comes to organizing time tracking categories, but it can make organizing your time much easier. Think of it like this: You need a basic watch to tell time, but you want a smartwatch to track your steps, heart rate, or calories burned.
Manual time categorization can result in human error and just takes a whole lot more time. A time tracker like Toggl Track is your smartwatch. It delivers accurate, real-time data paired with advanced metrics and reporting capabilities. The result? More informed decision-making and more time spent being productive.
Toggl Track offers multiple ways to organize time tracking categories, including by Client and Project. Within a project, you can add time entries for tasks (think of these as sub-projects).

Another option is to use tags, which are great for categorizing time in both your work and personal life. Start by creating time entries for the activities you want to track. Each entry should include details such as the start time, duration, and, optionally, a stop time and description. While creating or editing a time entry, add one or more tags to categorize and locate specific time entries within your workspace. (These tags are your time tracking categories.)
Remember to apply consistent tags across similar activities to simplify grouping and analysis later. You can also use these tags in reports to filter and group time entries, allowing you to analyze time spent on different activities based on the tags applied.
Start creating time tracking categories in Toggl Track
Whether you’re tracking working time or personal time, Toggl Track makes it easy to visualize your work-life balance. With a user-friendly interface, you can easily set up tags to group and analyze your activities. Did someone say efficient time management?
Try Toggl Track for free and find out exactly what we mean!
Michelle is an experienced freelance writer who loves applying research and creative storytelling to the content she creates. She writes about B2B SaaS software while also participating in conversations about other industries, such as the digital publishing landscape, sports, and travel.