Snowflake Challenge Day 2

[got_quiet]

The second snowflake Challenge is goal setting. I've already mentioned some resolutions in this post but I'll refine them here.

I have been keeping track of my time usage after 7pm for a few years now, via a chart, but this year bothered to actually add up all the little squares and create summaries of my monthly time usage. The time usage for this year looks like this:

	Reading	Writing	Study	Chores	Net	Gaming
January	9.25	16.25	2.5	18	19.25	64.75
February	6.5	10.5	0	23	26.5	49
March	5	8.5	.75	14.5	36.25	60
April	3.5	6	2.25	13	20.25	60
May	6.5	4.5	2.75	18.12	39	59.25
June	2.5	6.4	4.5	35.5	23.25	62.5
July	7	4.25	0	32.25	31.5	9
August	16.5	9.5	2.5	20.25	33.25	53.5
September	2	7.25	6.5	24.50	29.25	24
October	1	3.25	0	9.25	13.5	1
November	1.5	16.5	.5	33	53.5	34.75
December	23.75	13.5	4.25	10.5	45.5	36

I didn't track days in which I was traveling or sick, so months like October for example are very meager in their totals.

The yearly resulting hour sums are:

Reading - 85
Writing- 106.4
Study - 26.5
Chores - 252
Internet - 371
Gaming - 513.75

These stats are lopsided in the wrong way imo, so what I want to do this year is concentrate on cutting my internet faffing by half to around 180 hours total, cut down my gaming total, and increase my study total to 100 hours this year.

I also want to focus a little on my health. I'm moving towards middle age and have not treated my body well as we are not friends. Plus I've felt I should be cutting down my meat intake for moral reasons mostly, but have never been able to get that to stick because it's hard to be a trash eater and a vegetarian at the same time. So I am setting up a little graph in my notebook and will record whether I do or do not eat meat each day, and the goal is to have either a positive trend in rate of vegetarian days, or to have made it to 1/5 of all days per month being purely vegetarian. I really hate cooking so this is a pain in the ass for me, but we'll see how it goes.

And my final resolutions should -- theoretically -- be the easiest one. I will be buying no books this year. The reasons why are mentioned in this post.

Comments

[james]

Good luck on your goals!

[teigh_corvus]

Tracking time like that really is telling. [And I do like the chart. :)]
It's exciting that the tracking data helps clarify your resolutions - you truly knew what you're working with [or against, as the case may be.]

I'm wishing you course correction ease and an abundance of tasty and simple veggie recipes.

[got_quiet]

Thank you!

I'm very serious about SMART goals. If I can't feel the numbers ticking up towards something I think is possible it's really hard to feel like I've achieved something. It's sort of how gamification works, but without really going that far.

[teigh_corvus]

I was *just* talking to silveradept about SMART goals! So thanks twice over for the link - it locks the context in nicely. <3

If the system works, awesome. If the system needs tweaking, also awesome. If the system stops working, find the new bit of awesome. :). I am conceptually aware of gamification, but haven't followed that thread. Many productivity systems rub me the wrong way. I am fighting to hitch myself properly to consensual time and space, as I'm spicy-brained, and often that hitching process requires re-framing of narrative or outright trickery. That doesn't jive with a lot of the productivity systems. Though I do love me a bullet journal.

BUT - I have found a great deal of satisfaction in data capture within tables, and in using google calendar to track time usage. How are you setting up your daily time tracker?

[got_quiet]

Yeah, the system should be tailored to the person and not the other way around for sure. I tried lots of different productivity things including stuff like habitRPG and other computer based tracking and they were always failures. My brain knows when I'm trying to trick it into doing things it doesn't want to do and refuses to play along.

I'm actually using a bullet journal to track my time! I use grid paper and each square is a 15 minute increment. I keep the journal right next to my desk. The hardest part is remembering to not when I change from doing one thing or another, or to try to stick to doing one thing for 15 minutes at a time. I let myself fudge numbers a little with rounding up and down so it's not too frustrating.

At the end of the month I count up all the squares and note the totals at the bottom of the page.

If I tried keeping track by computer the system would collapse quickly, because the computer is such a thought interrupter for me, unfortunately.

[svgurl]

Keeping track of your time usage is a great idea and I like your chart. It really does make you see how you're spending your time.

Good luck with your goals! :D

[got_quiet]

Thank you, and good luck with yours!

[vriddy]

Those metrics are so cool! It must be really nice to see the evolution over time. Best of luck with your goals!