I logged my activities at 15-minute intervals for the whole year • Hacker News Board

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

#31

Post by cocoa19 » Sun, Jan 03, 2021, 6:07 PM UTC

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…

Might be more convenient to use on a smart watch.

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

#32

Post by nyxtom » Sun, Jan 03, 2021, 6:08 PM UTC

This sounds like a obvious question, but when do you log the data? Do you set a timer every 15 minutes? What about the time spent logging data every 15 minutes? Any complementary apps?

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

#33

Post by rdiddly » Sun, Jan 03, 2021, 6:11 PM UTC

I just started doing this, but using 30-minute blocks, and fewer categories. "Keep it simple." The goal is to make sure certain activities receive at least a minimum of attention, and others don't exceed a maximum. The rest, you don't need to schedule or track. A flexible system. Freedom alongside order. Open prairie just outside the city grid. Dreams amid plans.

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

#34

Post by Donckele » Sun, Jan 03, 2021, 6:12 PM UTC

All activities? anyone know what the limits were?

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

#35

Post by SwiftyBug » Sun, Jan 03, 2021, 6:16 PM UTC

newbie578 wrote: post #25

Interesting! I personally have used for the last 30 months the app called Time Tracker. Each second of every day is tracked, the timer goes on continuously and I just change the current activity. Looking back at it at the end of the year is surprisingly a double-edged sword... You are hit with a high knowing how much time you spent on work, working out, reading, socializing, etc.. But then you get hit with the downsi…

How does that work? You open the app before you start every activity and labels it? Even mundane ones like changing clothes? Do you account for the time you spend logging things in this app? How can you keep sanity having to open an app every time you start a different activity?

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

#36

Post by xkeysc0re » Sun, Jan 03, 2021, 6:16 PM UTC

I am really really grateful I am not this kind of person. Not everything needs to be quantified and analyzed. I'm glad OP had fun with the exercise but this drive to amass data will only lead to human suffering and oppression down the line

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

#37

Post by gingerlime » Sun, Jan 03, 2021, 6:18 PM UTC

ad404b8a372f2b9 wrote: post #21

miguelrochefort wrote: post #3

Awesome read! I've been tracking all my time, also at a 15-minute resolution, for the past 24 months. It seems to make new habits so much easier to adopt. The biggest surprise was how effective pre-tracking my time (aka time-blocking) was at programming myself to do things. Making things concrete and easy to visualize definitely helps in preventing procrastination. I see that you used Google Sheets for time tracking.…

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/

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

#38

Post by ketanmaheshwari » Sun, Jan 03, 2021, 6:21 PM UTC

Thank you for the post.

I did something similar -- I logged the activities on the world's largest supercomputer (that I have access to) every hour throughout the year 2020.

I logged information such as:

-- Who is logged in (the output of w command)

-- What processes are running and the overall system load (top and ps aux)

-- What is the state of memory and disk

-- What is the state of job scheduler

I have the data now and very excited about processing it in the coming weeks. I plan to anonymize and publish the data and the process I employed to collect it.

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

#39

Post by makach » Sun, Jan 03, 2021, 6:21 PM UTC

this reminds me of the struggle with logging my billable hours as a consultant.. Ugh.. But HATS OFF. This data is interesting and beautifully presented!

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

#40

Post by [deleted] » Sun, Jan 03, 2021, 6:22 PM UTC

whatshisface wrote: post #10

jedberg wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Everytime these come up, I am reminded how little time we have for extracurricular activities as parents This is interesting, because it's only a problem for non-rich people. Rich people solve this with nannies and babysitters and other home staff to take care of chores and child-rearing so they have more time for work or leisure activities. It really puts a point on the whole "everyone has 24 hours in a day, but n…

Isn't paying someone else to raise your children... not raising children? It's like comparing a bank with actual gold in a vault and many expensive physical security measures with someone who owns a futures contract with no delivery.

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