Yakamashii, wow, it sounds like you collect a lot of data on yourself! Do you use a specific software to write this all down? Or just maintain an amazing spreadsheet?
Scratch paper and Excel. Scratch paper to write down times and tasks, Excel to log it all at the end of the day and play with the numbers later on.
Basically, I write down what time I sit down at the computer, then write down start and end times next to tasks I have written out as I start and finish them. I write down the time when I get up for a meal, a walk or some other break longer than 15 minutes. I do this throughout the day, then total everything up at the end of the day and put it where it goes on the spreadsheet.
Also, what kinds of associated non-billable tasks do you track?
I probably should have said "non-billable hours and associated non-translation tasks." Here's how I define and handle that data:
Non-billable hours = Volunteering, networking, presenting, studying, unsuccessfully quoting, tooling around online (including posting on forums . . . )
Associated non-translation tasks = assessing files and quoting, accepting via email or phone, asking questions midway through, breaks up to 15 minutes, editing, proofreading, delivering by email or FTP, responding to questions and comments post-translation
I don't keep a separate time for each associated non-translation task because some of them don't take very long. However, they all count as time spent on each job. This is probably intuitive, but I have it set up this way because when I started keeping data on myself years ago, I only counted translation time, and essentially fooled myself with sexy numbers that didn't tell me what I needed to know. It only hindered me to believe that x amount of text takes five hours to translate when, after adding in the associated non-translation tasks and a reasonable break or two, it really takes six or seven.
I also don't sort non-billable hours, and probably should someday because there are good N/B hours and bad N/B hours.
This data I keep are mostly for me to know how much time I'm spending in front of the computer. It amounts to navel-gazing and screwing around with spreadsheets, but it also helps me quote in several different terms without ripping myself off.