Another unit of measurement

[RobStallion]

I was talking with @rub1e yesterday about recording everyday tasks with a time tracker. e.g. reading a book.

I said I was doing it as a way of seeing how much time I spend in a given amount of time, a week for example, doing that. He suggested that that data one it's own may not be very helpful when looking back on it.

For example, if I spend an hour cooking one night but only made cheese on toast I might not be very happy with that. If I made a roast dinner (and somehow no one was poisoned from raw meat) in that same amount of time it could be a good achievement.

This makes me think that it might be worth adding another metric. I'm not sure on how to track this other metric (I'm not even certain what it could/should be), I just thought it was worth capturing the conversation.

[nelsonic]

@RobStallion if you are "not sure" what alternative metric or how to track it, it might be worth sticking to the one that others have used to successfully "multiply" their effectiveness. 🤔

Remembering to start/stop timers #221 is your (and my) biggest "obstacle" to being more effective.
Once we have the data on estimates vs. actuals we can begin to analyse the data for insights.
No other measure will be more insightful and brutally honest.

Tracking cooking time and the associated outcome (does it move me toward my health/fitness goal?) is definitely a feature we are going to build in the future.
Again the "leading metric" is: did it take longer/shorter than I estimated?
If so why? Did I enjoy the time and learn something in the process?

We first need the objective/quantitative estimate vs. actual time taken data,
then we can add a subjective/qualitative "I enjoyed spending the extra 30 mins cooking" commentary
(both of which are good sources of data for later introspection/reflection)

[nelsonic]

There are only a finite number of activities most people perform on a regular basis.

If we can capture a reasonably complete list of these things, we can help remove the effort/friction to tracking those activities. This "bank" of activities will be our "secret sauce" for "on-boarding" people who are "sceptical" or "reluctant" to track their "Time Well Spent". (or in the case of the current attention deficit epidemic, time wasted on distractions that don't move us closer to our objectives...)

The reason I've been obsessed with time for as long as I can remember is simple:
To Humans on Earth, it's a universal constant. Without getting into the physics (which is a fascinating distraction see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physical_constant ...) all we need to know is that Time passes at a constant rate for everyone regardless of age, intelligence, wealth, etc.
(even if it feels like time is accelerating as you age ... or feels "slow" at a 9-to-5 dead-end "JOB" ...)

Each person has 24 hours each day. Some people use the time more effectively than others.
But the fact remains that we are each "allocated" the same finite number of minutes per day.
Only by tracking how we each spend our time can we be more personally effective.

If people "forget" to start the timer when they are watching TV/Netflix and waste 3 h/day, they should not complain that they "never have enough time" to achieve their goal of learning a skill, instrument, language or how to retire by the age of 29 by investing in cashflow-producing leveraged assets. 😉

But what about "Curved Spacetime"...? 🤔

We can get into a discussion/debate on "relative time" after dinner in the summer ... ☀️
To prepare, read: "Time Dilation", "Absolute" vs "Relative Time" and Einstein's Relativistic Time
The same way that we can discuss the fact that Gravity is a relative curved wave ... 👋〰️🙄
but for the purposes of most (non "rocket scientist") Human Beings on Earth Time is constant.
Although I definitely feel I can relate to Einstein's famous quote on Relate Time:
“When you sit with a nice girl for two hours you think it’s only a minute, but when you sit on a hot stove for a minute you think it’s two hours. That’s relativity.” ~ Albert Einstein

[iteles]

The added value here will also come in when other modules can be used with the app, such as mood tracking for example. Then you can see if spending 3 hours cooking also correlates more often than not to a good mood or a less good one 🎉 Getting a little ahead of myself here, but I think that further down the line, enough information can be collected to take this to the next level of quantified self.