Should You Time Log?

Today, Steve Pavlina posted a video about how he’s doing a 30-day trial of time logging. He already started last week. Rather than tracking every minute (e.g. 10:00AM – 10:15AM – Answered emails, 10:15AM – 10:20AM – Bathroom break, etc.), he suggested a simplified version on his blog that tracks activity at every hour (e.g. 5 – woke up and went for a run, 6 – ate breakfast, 7 – took a shower, etc.).

I was thinking about whether or not I should join. And to be honest, I am well aware of how I spend most of my time. I pretty much do the same things each day, especially with the pandemic going on. I do want to change what I do, but I don’t know what else specifically to try. I tried getting back into songwriting and producing song covers. I guess I could make a conscious effort into spending more time making music.

He talked about how he would rate his days and determine if what he did was the best use of his time. One idea was to rate it from 1-10. But then, he wondered how he would compare a 7 to a 4 or a 5 to a 6. So then, he thought of a binary yes or no answer. He settled on the question, “Do I love my day?” Not “did I”, but “do I”, as in is it something he cherishes or will have a fond memory of in the future?

For me, I definitely haven’t loved any of my days for a while now. Sometimes, I feel accomplished like when I finally finish a song, or when I help someone out. But most of my days are ordinary. There’s nothing special about it, or nothing that brings me much joy. So, I don’t think this 30-day trial will be particularly useful for me.

For now, I’m opting out of this 30-day time logging trial. But if anyone else finds it useful, definitely go for it. Time logging can reveal what you do most of your time and can help you to identify areas of stress for example, or excitement. So, it can be handy for some.