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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

#41

Post by ChrisLomont »

xkeysc0re wrote: post #36

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

> 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 possible to do so results in more human suffering from making sub-optimal decisions from bad inputs.

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

#42

Post by polote »

Whoaa, amazing, I've been doing the same during the last 5 years, but I use an easier setup, I use an app, so I just have to click on buttons at the end of each activity.

> Stay tuned to learn how do different activities influence my mood

I only started doing that this year, and I'm pissed off I didn't start doing it earlier, as that's where you can start doing correlation on your life and your activities.

If some people are interested I have described how I track my life here : https://blog.luap.info/how-i-track-my-life.html

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

#43

Post by zufallsheld »

pmyteh wrote: post #30

My usual plug for TagTime[0], which handles this in a slightly different (and in my view better) way: it stochastically tracks your time by randomly sampling times to ask you what you're doing right now . Fair in expectation, timeless (no slacking off because you've just filled in the timesheet), accurately captures (on average) the cost of all the short phone calls and context switches. It's by the Beeminder people,…

Does anyone know of a similar tool for windows?

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

#44

Post by barrucadu »

I started tracking my time in 15-minute intervals a little under a month ago, and I've also been surprised by how little effort it is.

I've not gone for breaking by day up into 15 minute chunks, instead I've been timing myself as I do things, and noting down the duration rounded it to the nearest 15 minutes when I change tasks. I'm also not tracking everything, for example, showering. So I have a fair bit of missing time every day, which I'm aiming to get down to 2 hours or less a day.

I've already found myself using time more "productively" - preferring to do things which are tracked (like reading) over things which are not (like mindlessly browsing the internet).

There are a few key metrics I'm keeping an eye on:

- Average daily sleep deficit: `avg(8 - sleep hours)`

- Average daily work deficit: `avg(8 - work hours)` for work days

- Average daily missing time: `avg(24 - all hours)`

- Days since last day off work, not counting weekends

- Percentage of leisure hours: `avg(leisure hours / (all hours - sleep hours))`

I'm also watching how I spend my work days, for example, what proportion of my time is spent doing active work, or in meetings, or doing admin work.

I'll likely expand the things I'm specifically monitoring as I get more data.

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

#45

Post by mlady »

ChrisLomont wrote: post #41
xkeysc0re wrote: post #36

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

> 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…

I think there's a sweet spot somewhere. We're tending towards too much data now with hourly employees working from home but have their screens monitored for constant activity, even if it isn't value-producing.

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

#46

Post by snds »

ChrisLomont wrote: post #41
xkeysc0re wrote: post #36

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

> 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…

I suspect the parent comment is referring to amassing personally identifiable information

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

#47

Post by nekopa »

xkeysc0re wrote: post #36

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

I don't understand this viewpoint. This type of data is being misused already. I think it would be a net positive for individuals to get their own data and use it for positive outcomes. It shouldn't be shared with the world at large, but when I've tracked certain info about myself, it has helped me immensely.

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

#48

Post by nyxtom »

barrucadu wrote: post #44

I started tracking my time in 15-minute intervals a little under a month ago, and I've also been surprised by how little effort it is. I've not gone for breaking by day up into 15 minute chunks, instead I've been timing myself as I do things, and noting down the duration rounded it to the nearest 15 minutes when I change tasks. I'm also not tracking everything , for example, showering. So I have a fair bit of missing…

Do you use an app for this, or do you just use the timer?

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

#49

Post by Draiken »

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 a pessimist so I'd probably get very sad at some real data telling me how many hours I have wasted making someone else money.

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

#50

Post by gibrown »

pmyteh wrote: post #30

My usual plug for TagTime[0], which handles this in a slightly different (and in my view better) way: it stochastically tracks your time by randomly sampling times to ask you what you're doing right now . Fair in expectation, timeless (no slacking off because you've just filled in the timesheet), accurately captures (on average) the cost of all the short phone calls and context switches. It's by the Beeminder people,…

I used tagtime for a while a decade or so ago. I agree that the stochastic tracking is a lot better since you can't game it. I may try it again, so thanks for the reminder.

I've been a paid subscriber to http://rescuetime.com/ for almost a decade now. Passive tracking and analysis. But it is not much of a nudge to really focus on things. Thanks for the reminder.

I need to write up my Elasticsearch setup for indexing my health/rehab tracking data, but the code is here: https://github.com/gibrown/es-health-tracker and some of the older tracking I wrote about here: https://greg.blog/2018/06/15/relearning-to-walk-at-forty/

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