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I‘ve been doing sth similar by tracking my time for the last 3 weeks and change. I havent done the full analysis yet but it‘s already clear that how I think I spend my time is completely different from how I actually spend it.

Perception/„feeling“ vs physical reality. The gap is huge.

Trivial example, I was convinced that the „time toll“ i have to pay around training was very high. Like I was spending an hour or more just to change into sportswear, shower afterwards, and switch back. This perceived deadweight loss always presented an additional psychological hurdle to get off my ass and train. Now that I know that it‘s much less than I thought, it‘s gone.

Similar for cooking.

Like I said, havent done the full analysis yet but I can already highly recommend this practice of recording time at least for a while.

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I spend zero (extra) time changing. I make the workout coincide with when I'd get showered anyway and typically wear clothes good enough for the gym.

May I ask what you are using to track your time?

Late edit: Especially offline time tracking.

I used ActivityWatch with vim, browser, everything on Linux. (Last time I checked, make sure to have a firewall on the port)

Although did not know what to do with the data. I just saw my chess addiction subsiding. Maybe it was a side effect of seeing it at 60 hours a week.

Now it’s at 0 hours.

Sure, I use ATracker (https://atracker.pro/)

They have phone apps for both iOS and Android which work offline. Their iOS app has a "companion" on the Watch too, so you can quickly switch activities on your wrist. I think without this I wouldnt have the patience to even track bathroom time (another thing that I vastly overestimated before I saw the numbers).

I´m still hovering between writing my own tracking system, for more control, and the convenience of a pre-made system. I would most miss the watch app, I think, as I have no idea how to make that.

Possible compromise would be to use this app but automate the data export and analysis in my own custom environment.

But yea, long story short, Atracker, and offline works well.

Thanks a lot for this comprehensive answer. I have a Garmin watch, maybe there is an app for it too.

As a developer, the balance between using a readymade solution or implementing is always a bit tipped on the DIY side.

If you use windows trackerize is another good option:-

http://ravenum.com

From the website, it only takes snapshots every five minutes? I believe ManicTime registers any window focus or title change.

No you can configure for every 3 mins if you prefer. But it then uses that metric to allocate time to different client accounts based on keyword matching you set up. And it does screen captures too. I like it because unlike most other apps it is completely automated and private (no uploading data into the cloud, secure encryption etc).

I still don’t understand why it uses a fixed interval instead of being triggered by focus/title changes. In my usage that would miss a lot of actions. Other apps like ManicTime are local-only, no uploading as well.

Well the time is automatically allocated to client accounts based on that interval and with my keyword matching correctly set up, I still get a reasonably accurate estimate of time to bill individual clients. This all happens automatically. I dont look at my time-tracking app at all till the end of day.

I should add it has a special "follow" pseudo-account which you can match to general use apps like windows explorer which will assign that time to the most recent assigned client account.

> how I think I spend my time is completely different from how I actually spend it.

Experiencing self vs Remembering self.

After Daniel Kanheman gave a ted talk on this, I deliberately try to prioritise my experiencing self.

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