For anyone wondering, yes I did track how long I spent tracking everything! I spent an average of 47 minutes per day on it (labelled as "Journaling" in the plot legend).

Some extra points:

  • Yes I was unemployed and had too much free time last year
  • Don't worry, I now have a job in data science lined up this year
  • I used Google Sheets to record the data, and R to compile/summarise the data and to make the visuals (with a bit of Photoshop to piece things together
  • Apologies if the quality has been compressed, you can view in on a computer or download the images for the full details
  • Sorry for the repost, posted it on a disallowed day originally

Posted by Pguinne

40 comments

  2. This is really cool! I did the same thing for a couple of months in college for a class project. It was fascinating but a bit embarrassing how much time I used to spend on certain things. Definitely helps you take inventory of your life

  3. Y’all are insane. I thought the person who tracked every hour was wild.
    Very well done.

  4. Genuine question: what category does sex or masturbation fall under?

  5. Did this help you get the job in data science? Did you mention it during the interview?

  6. What did you have for dessert at 3.10pm? 😅
    Also, well done tracking everything down to the minute

  7. I think this is my favourite reddit post of 2025 so far. Epic data tracking!

  8. This is amazing.

    Only beef I have is that you’ve got recreation and leisure as separate tabs and Nintendo switch isn’t in gaming.

    Curious about those choices but otherwise very cool!

    What do you do for work?

  10. Fascinating commitment for sure but please, as someone who didn’t: you really need to brush more. Sorry for being your mom but seconds ain’t gonna cut it. You’ll save yourself a lot of stress and $$$ in the future.

  11. What method did you use to record that information within a given day. For example, did you jot things down on paper throughout that day and then enter everything in the evening? Or was every change in activity punctuated by a recording step?

  13. Awesome!! How were you able to track all these activities ? Did you have a camera connected to a device that automatically classify your activities, or was it all manual or something in between ? I would like to do something like this to show my psychiatrist my progress, but I have poor memory and discipline. Not sure that I can do it if it is all manual.

  14. So…..what category did the time you spent making this and tracking data fall under? I would guess that it would be the second largest category after sleep. 🙂

  16. This reminds me of a story about a king that wanted to make a scale map of his kindom as accuratly as possible to help with his planning of war effort.

    And the map was never detailed enough and he wanted higher and higher accuracy and more and more details and in the end the map was 1:1 scale, covered the entire kingdom and was indistinguishable from the reality itself which was ruined in the process of creation of this accurate map.

  17. Props for tracking all this. I was about to ask whether you used an app in order to ease the data gathering, but yeah it was pure grinding.

    Very nice plots too. Now I am curious about what my graphs would look like…

  18. You forgot to track how much time you spent tracking your time

  19. Can you link your template for reuse? I’d love to try this but don’t want to reinvent your system.

  20. At least you work in the right field for your personality – Data science!!! Now that you tracked a year, what did you learn from this experiment? Did you learn how to value time and what conclusions on what activities you need to reduce? You have the data, and now the analysis, reflection, and conclusions in this life experment! Who knows, maybe you can write an article or a book on “The Value of Time in Modern Day Life–What I learned from tracking myself for a year.” ?

  21. And here i sit, angry that i need to break down my work time into 15 minute increments for each project/task.

  22. Nonono this is terrifying. Oh my goodness I hope you don’t do this for 2025.

  23. I genuinely do not understand how someone can even be capable of doing this. This is amazing!

  27. Thank you for sharing! I’m not going to zoom in too much just seems a little too personal to me. But at the high level it looks really interesting! I hope you’re able to use this information.

    Have you tried correlating anything like mood after hours slept or leisure activity? Do you believe the time spent tracking all this has gotten in the way of any other activities? I sure could say my hobbies sometimes do that.

  28. May I ask why you would go to sleep at such different times? I know you said you were unemployed for the year so maybe you’re on less of a schedule. Would you simply let your body dictate when to go to sleep or wake up? It kind of looks like there’s a weekly pattern but I’m too lazy to verify it.

  29. Wow that is so inspiring! I also want to do such thing. Could you share bits on how you did it? How exactly you did these stuff and what app did you use?

  30. this is probably what i would do if i didnt have a job too

  31. God damn! I’m impressed and concerned and then impressed again. 😂

  32. What have you been able to learn from it? Were you doing mood tracking so that you know how those activities related to your overall wellness?

  33. How much were you able to automate?

    Are you still tracking?

  34. > Sleep from 2-5 AM to 12-2 PM
    > Have gaming, socializing and exercise categories on the tracker

    >ITT: how to tell them I’m childless without telling them I’m childless.

  36. Did you log every activity after it’s finished or all the activities at the end of the day (possibly sacrificing accuracy for convenience)?

    How much of that were you able to automatize and how (for example by using a smartwatch to log sleeping and exercising)?

  37. i saw the first picture and thought ‘thats not so beautiful’, and then proceeded to narrowly study pic 2 and 3. nice work man!

  39. I just want to know why did you brushed your teeth for 19 minutes one day

  40. Beautiful modeling and recording. I really love the first visual, even though it feels like a mess, it almost feels like art… like that is literally a year of someone’s life. Very cool to see. Thanks for sharing.

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