We don’t have awareness of time.

Throughout time, we have generally struggled with time keeping. We tend to only be aware if we are measuring it. We tend to be shocked when it passes by quickly. But time is unchanging, instead our perception of it changes. More and more, things are built to attract your attention, and hence distort how time feels to you.

Now everything you interact with is built to capture as much time as possible.

If you think you have spent five minutes, you are unlikely to stop. It is a little rest and recovery afterall. It is innocent, right?

But what if 5 miuntes is actually 15? And what if it is multiple times a day?

It is harder to judge these mini-interuptions so this becomes a target. An addiction is one that will make money for others. Do you know how much time you spend on these interuptions throughout the day?

I do now. When I started it was shocking. It was more time than I was spending with my partner. Now, through tracking, I now am intentional and aware about doing it and manage it - reclaim literally hours back of my life a day.

We are rarely motivated

If someone asked you to do something, you would likely do it for them. Motivation isn’t even a thought.

But when you give yourself a task, it’s much harder.

There is likely less definition of the task and how to complete it, less accountability as you’re only cheating yourself and less urgency.

This hits your life balance.

You either don't do what you want to do, or, your doing more work than anything else becuase others regularly ask you. You may neglect the things that make you happy and you'll eventually burn out.

The defence

Tracking gives you awareness and motivation

I started tracking my hours — every hour of the day. “What was the main thing I did in that hour?”

Suddenly, tracking my time made me accountable to myself. I would say to myself "Come on don't waste another hour" whereas before I wouldn’t have noticed an hour had gone. I would see that I am not spending time on the things I enjoy. I saw vividly the amount of my life I was giving to work.

I also had a way to see where I wasn’t spending time — no time went in the friends pot for a while and I knew it.

What to track?

The main activities is where I started: Sleeping, Working, Family, Friends, Hobbies, Leisure, Admin.

Later I got more specific: Work I hate, work I love; Specific projects and hobbies.

Then I made targets — at least 20 hours with friends each month. At least 3 hours of exercise a week. At most, an hour of youtube a day.

Get this superpower?

I started tracking with a spreadsheet. Feel free too. I built everyhour so that you don't have to. You can record easily on any device. You can customised it as much as you want, with as many categories as you want. You can view analytics on your time in one click.

You can sign up here: