Block Life - Productivity Experiment

I recorded my day every 10 minutes. 

I was inspired by wait but why to block my life every 10 minutes and label each block to keep track of my day. I did it as an experiment to debug my life and see where my time leaks and where I can improve to live a more productive life. I hate when a day passes, and I see no solid progress. I hate when something sporadic takes a large chunk of my day and I end up tired and unproductive at night. 

I saw where my time went. 

Productive day pie-chart.
Summary first:
  • I spend 36% of my awake hours on necessities such as brushing teeth, cooking, eating, driving, walking....
  • I spend 35% of my awake hours on non-pressing matters such as browsing the web, chatting, and resting....
  • I spend 29% of my awake hours learning and working on various projects (on a very productive day).
  • My total awake time: < 16 hours

I colored in each activity type. 

Block life picture.
"Uncolored" blocks are necessities, blue blocks are working times, and red blocks are non-working times. 

My experience:

My first day trying block life is probably the most productive day so far during this summer. I went to the library to read so I don't get distracted. I chilled a bit. I studied machine learning, took notes, and perused some of my hobbies. I can confidently say that the day after was not nearly as productive at all. 

Block life puts time into perspective. 

In the morning, after I finished reading for about two hours, I looked at my day and saw a lot more blank blocks. Even after lunch and relaxing, I still had more than half a day left before me. I felt hopeful: "Yes! I can do a lot more things today!" 

That was my beginner's euphoria. As the continued, I added more breaks and kept up most of my momentum from the morning. I made two cups of green tea in the afternoon for myself to overcome the afternoon drowsiness. At five, I started to watch lecture videos on YouTube and taking notes; that was the peak of my day.

 Then anxiety hit me. 

I looked at my day and only saw three rows left! I started to panic a little bit. Did I do enough today? What substantial thing did I accomplish? 

And my productivity plummeted. 

Soon came dinner, and after that, I just browsed around on the internet. I only worked a little bit, perhaps 20 minutes, before I went to bed.

Takeaways.

My productivity curve.

We are nothing compared to computers in terms of stamina. After about 4 hours of productivity, we start to get bogged down. We become slower and slower, and our motivation plummets. At a point, our laziness takes over and we end up doing nothing productive.

The picture above shows the productivity for a day. Imagine that for a week, or for multiple weeks. The fluctuations may not be as drastic, but we can not maintain peak productivity for extended periods of time (under normal circumstances).

You should try block life,

Even for a day. Preferably a day in which you do not have work or school; those days are not ideal for block life. Block life is a self-analysis. It gives insights to how we spend, or waste, our time. It also shows the regularity of time. 

Time is constant. 

Time is easily measurable. Time should not be feared. Ultimately, we have some control over our time (some more than others due to responsibilities), and we can use our time to our liking. Think of it as a comforting gift: you can control your time. 

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