7 lessons I learnt from tracking 3200 hours over the past 18 months
Time. Somehow there is never enough of it, right? I certainly felt that way for many years. I kept asking myself this all-too-familiar question:
“Where did all that time go?”
I wasn’t totally sure. Obviously, I had a few hunches. Maybe it was a lack of clear focus, those little procrastinations here and there, some inefficiencies. But I didn’t really know for a fact.
I knew there was only one way to truly get a clear picture of what was going on: to consistently track what I was doing. Not necessarily everything, but most things. And that’s precisely what I decided to do.
Wait a minute… what do I use for that?
There was a problem, though. I couldn’t really find a tool that would be a good fit for that. Obviously, there is plethora of time-tracking apps and services, but as I did some research, I found that they were all lacking in the visualization part. They only showed aggregates in a very rudimentary way, and changing intervals for those aggregates was just clunky. I needed something that would be helpful both at the micro-level — looking at efficiency throughout the day — and at the macro level — showing time sums for weeks, months and beyond.
Long story short, when I got an idea for an app that would feature an interactive timeline, I realized it would be perfect for a time-tracking app, and I eventually decided to build it. It’s called Timelines, and since the early prototypes, I’ve been using it to track what I am doing. Not just work, but also fitness, socializing, habits, education, and more. Obviously, I’ve also tracked the development of my individual apps.
I’ve been tracking all that for the past 18 months and have amassed those insane 3200 hours. Some of the results have been truly insightful. Let’s jump right in!
The 7 main lessons I learnt
1) There is a difference between thinking about work and working
I found out that in any given week, I didn’t put in nearly as many work hours as I thought I did. Stuff comes up, and there are errands to run. Simply put: thinking about work all the time makes you think that you work so much, but it just isn’t true. The takeaway? Try to be really focused on the work when you are working. When you are not, try as much as possible to focus on other things instead.
2) Even 10 minutes of doing something each day really adds up
Seriously. Ten minutes doesn’t sound like a lot, but when you look at the bigger picture, it is. It’s the difference between five hours a month and nothing. Now, I know it’s hard to find the discipline to do something every day, but it really pays off to do it anyway. I’ve been able to stick with writing in my journal every day for at least 10 minutes, and it has brought tremendous value into my life.
3) More doesn’t necessarily mean better. There is a balance to be struck
I used to think that I should do more of everything. Find more time to work, more time to see friends, more time to exercise. When I put significantly more time into work, then yes, I got more done. But that time was taken from all the other things. Also, my energy got depleted and my productivity went south. Conversely, those weeks where I had a lot of events with friends and exercised a lot often felt like I did too little work. For long-term happiness and satisfaction, it’s worth striving for the perfect balance. This again is very tricky, and even though I’ve gotten a bit closer to it, I still haven’t found it and maybe I never will. Maybe a perfect balance doesn’t even exist, but I believe it’s still useful to aim for it.
4) A good daily routine is key
Find out in which part of the day you are the most productive. If you are on maker’s schedule, aim for those long, uninterrupted blocks of time when you can get work done. Since I am most productive during the morning, getting up early is key. Which also means going to bed early to get enough sleep. I’ve recently been able to get up before seven a.m. somewhat consistently. Still not great, but it’s progress. Another bottleneck of mine was long breaks after lunch. Being more mindful about those little blocks of procrastination and wasted time during the day can help you actively work on eliminating them.
5) Take the time to look back and draw lessons
Tracking time is useful, but if you never look back on it, it won’t provide much value. I personally try to take some time each week on Sunday afternoon to think about the last week. I write a summary of what went well, what didn’t, how my time management went and how I can do better next week. I also include a section with general lessons and learnings from the week. Then there is a very important subsequent step to it: to make changes according to the learnings. This brings us nicely to the next lesson.
6) Change is hard and doesn’t happen overnight
There is a saying that old habits die hard, and it’s absolutely true. I used to have this naive idea that I would just be able to suddenly improve everything in the next week/next month. It never worked out. It’s best to make one small change at a time. Work it into your daily and weekly routine, and only after it feels like the change will stick, start on another one.
7) It’s not just about time. Energy is the other dimension
It wasn’t until recently that I started to pay more attention to this. Not all time is created equal. You are not at the same level of productivity in the first hour of the day and the ninth hour of the day. For example, taking the time to go hang out with a friend instead of working on the upcoming launch of your app might seem counterintuitive, but the energy boost will make you more productive afterwards. The same goes for exercising. The mere amount of tracked time won’t tell you that. The takeaway? Managing your energy is just as important as managing your time.
I hope that you find these lessons useful. I don’t want to make it sound like tracking this much time is the silver bullet, but for me personally, it did provide really helpful insights. I also won’t say that it’s for everybody, because it isn’t. But if you are into self-improvement and would like to find out how to spend your time better, then I am confident you’ll love this. And what better tool to use than the one that was built specifically for this very reason?
Timelines is available from the App Store today, for an introductory price of just $4.99 (a savings of 40 percent). You can download it here, or learn more at timelinesapp.io.
