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I logged my activities at 15-minute intervals for the whole year

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Re: I logged my activities at 15-minute intervals for the whole year

#141

Post by renewiltord »

oblio wrote: post #126
dtran wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think "being productive" vs. "time well spent" and "doing things that really matter" is a false dichotomy. It doesn't have to be this way. I know that's a statement from a position of privilege— not every has a job where they can feel like they are in a flow state while working, but do you have any side projects or hobbies where you feel both productive and feel like it's time well spent? Coming to this pretty late…

Your viewpoint still dismisses one of the best categories of "time wasting"/"things that really matter": time spent socializing with friends and family. There have been a few studies that were pointing out people in Southern Italy live very long and happy lives (I think happiness was self-reported), despite living in relative poverty compared to developed countries. Sun + healthy diets + lots and lots of intense soci…

The long life thing heavily correlates with the lack of quality in record keeping.

Re: I logged my activities at 15-minute intervals for the whole year

#142

Post by ArtWomb »

Draiken wrote: post #49

I am always baffled how sad this extreme focus into productivity makes me. If you discovered you were going to die in a year, would you continue to spend all your time being "productive"? I figure almost everyone would shift all their focus on doing things that "really matter". Sadly I believe the world managed to make us feel guilty when we're not doing something that makes someone else rich (majority of jobs). I'm…

>>> If you discovered you were going to die in a year, would you continue to spend all your time being "productive"?

Called to mind an Old Zen Koan. Before Enlightenment: chop wood, carry water. After Enlightenment: chop wood, carry water ;)

If lifecasting were automated, it would form a tremendous data set. The historical antecedents are legion: Vannevar Bush's Memex. Buckminster Fuller's Dymaxion Chronograph. Gordon Bell's MyLifeBits. Yes, even YC's own Justin.tv. Simple daily plain text often works best for me. Re-visiting old entries is gold. Like inviting your younger self over for a cup of tea ;)

Re: I logged my activities at 15-minute intervals for the whole year

#143

Post by untech »

haberman wrote: post #8

For a long time I've wanted to create an Android/iOS app called "Sample Me" or something similar, for collecting exactly this kind of data about yourself. You design a survey with whatever data you want to collect, then the app gives you a notification at whatever interval you configure. A couple taps and you have a sample point about your life, which gets appended to a Google Sheet or similar, and maybe some in-app…

I used a combination of Google Forms and IFTTT-scheduled emails for that.

Re: I logged my activities at 15-minute intervals for the whole year

#144

Post by ChrisLomont »

hezag wrote: post #59
ChrisLomont wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> this drive to amass data will only lead to human suffering and oppression down the line On a large scale, science (and economics) is a drive to amass data, which has led to vast reductions in human suffering. Amassing data lets one (and mankind) make decisions not on random conjecture or feeling, but on a solid footing, which results in better decisions on how to allocate resources. Not gathering data where it's po…

> Amassing data lets one (and mankind) make decisions not on random conjecture or feeling, but on a solid footing, which results in better decisions on how to allocate resources "Better" is extremely relative. Better for whom?

Well, to start, the tens of billions of people in total that have been fed over the past century by modern farming. The tens of billions total that have been pulled from poverty over the last 50 years. The billions right now getting vastly better medical care than their ancestors.

What percentage of people would you claim worldwide or over the past 100 years are worse off as a result of science and economic advances? Care to list why they're worse off in total?

Re: I logged my activities at 15-minute intervals for the whole year

#145

Post by radley »

raunakdag wrote: post #115
radley wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm building an Apple app that does this and saves everything as a journal.

Do you have a waitlist? I want to sign up

Wasn't planning on it. I'd be happy to email you when it launches.

Please ping me here: radleymarx at gmail.

Re: I logged my activities at 15-minute intervals for the whole year

#146

Post by radley »

radley wrote: post #105
haberman wrote: post #8

For a long time I've wanted to create an Android/iOS app called "Sample Me" or something similar, for collecting exactly this kind of data about yourself. You design a survey with whatever data you want to collect, then the app gives you a notification at whatever interval you configure. A couple taps and you have a sample point about your life, which gets appended to a Google Sheet or similar, and maybe some in-app…

I'm building an Apple app that does this and saves everything as a journal.

If anyone is curious:

https://radleymarx.com/work/time-journal

Re: I logged my activities at 15-minute intervals for the whole year

#147

Post by miguelrochefort »

gingerlime wrote: post #37
ad404b8a372f2b9 wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does one of those allow easy input of activity with a single button click without required login and cloud use? Also are they free? I tried to find an easy tracking workflow a few years back but all the apps had hidden dark patterns so I gave up.

I'd be happy skipping the free part for something that preserves my privacy. Off the list GP posted, the first name -- ActivityWatch -- seems to hit the mark? open source, privacy-first, cross-platform according to the homepage[0]. Never even heard of it until now, but I might give it a try :) [0] https://activitywatch.net/

ActivityWatch is the one I'm using. It even runs on my Android phone.

Re: I logged my activities at 15-minute intervals for the whole year

#148

Post by MetalGuru »

CarelessExpert wrote: post #102
sunir wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you have a very narrow understanding of what "productive" means. You can produce or make progress towards anything that you value. Making other people money is just one avenue. If you had a year to live, you would definitely want to be productive. There's a lot that needs to get done to wrap up your one single life well, so that your time on earth wasn't lost. Just getting your will and testament done, talkin…

> If you had a year to live, you would definitely want to be productive. No, I'd want to be happy. It's the uniquely American Calvinist view that conflates these things.

Guitar makes me happy. Feeling stimulated and feeling like I’m progressing makes me happy. I can be productive in guitar. Where’s the conflation in this?

Re: I logged my activities at 15-minute intervals for the whole year

#149

Post by axetheone »

I also happened to time track my time this year, although in a more automatic (and less detailed) way. For that I used ActivityWatch on my personal laptop (which I use for all non-work related matters) in order to have an automatic way to track my time and, at least for me, figure out how much time I'm wasting on time wasters like social media, Youtube, Hacker News and so on. It was interesting to see the difference between the time I think I'm spending and the time I'm actually spending.

Re: I logged my activities at 15-minute intervals for the whole year

#150

Post by Draiken »

danesparza wrote: post #125
Draiken wrote: post #49

I am always baffled how sad this extreme focus into productivity makes me. If you discovered you were going to die in a year, would you continue to spend all your time being "productive"? I figure almost everyone would shift all their focus on doing things that "really matter". Sadly I believe the world managed to make us feel guilty when we're not doing something that makes someone else rich (majority of jobs). I'm…

Read the article. The article has a completely different tone than what you are assuming from the headline. ~~~ 4 points per hour for the most productive activities (focused work towards uni & self-improvement and exercising) 3 points for reading books 2 points for reading blogs, listening to podcasts, lower intensity work etc 0 points for things that are important but I do them anyway (socialising, sleep etc) -4 poi…

I did read it :)

My point is that the majority of "productive" things we do are geared towards our jobs. And the majority of jobs enrich the people at the top at the expense of your expertise and time invested. YMMV.

Not sure why so many people assumed I had a bad view on the article or the OP. I think what was done was fascinating, but it made me sad.

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