# Going too far?



## slyfox (Nov 18, 2007)

Lately, have been tracking most of the productivity I do. Last night, I even made/started a spreadsheet on Google sheets to add up all the different times for me. So now I have this spreadsheet, a document where I track details of my productivity times, a document where I track my entertainment budget, and a document where I track my healthy eating goals. You think this is going too far?

So far how I see it

Cons
*Takes up time to track this much
*Interferes with the natural flow of doing activities when you have to stop and record a time before moving onto something new

Pros
*Gives you a good idea of the way your time is being spent/wasted
*Looking at the spreadsheet makes you want to add to areas that you can see are being neglected/blank
*While it takes up time to track it might also help you to focus and get more productivity out of the time you do spend.










http://i1248.photobucket.com/albums/hh488/slylikeafox/spreadsheet_zpsaawwiyuh.png link to bigger since it is too small when I view SAS

The art/craft area won't be in much use at the moment. I was hoping to work harder next year on selling arts and crafts though.

Bug care and shrimp care are separate from pets, because I've been raising/breeding some feeder insects, etc in the hopes of maybe selling some next year. So far has been cheap to maintain but too much of a time waste for what little I would get out of it  . The shrimp(fairy shrimp and triops) were a gift to my dad that I help him out with.

No need to worry about pet care being blank. I don't bother recording quick things like feeding my fish, etc. I just record longer things like weekly water changes and filter maintenance. Plant care will also not be used that much, but in the spring I have a lot of plants of mine I should be helping with at my Dad's house.


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## Mxx1 (Feb 3, 2015)

I have tried to make a time sheet/ spread sheet myself but i just end quitting. I think it keeps a lot of order in what you do and you rememember a lot more of what you are going to do this and that day. 

I do not know not if you are going too far... Try tracking less and put maybe just the most important bits maybe? Put more things just into one? Instead of lots of small things which is spread around. Maybe put plant care, bug care, shrimp care to one maybe? And call it outdoor care? I do not know just an idea. I am not used to making spread sheet x)

Your spread sheet looks very nice at least! Wish i bothered to do it.


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## truant (Jul 4, 2014)

I have various 'stats' that I track, too. Not quite to this degree, though. I don't record how much time I spend on things, and I don't track everything I do, but I do track things that help me feel productive and that motivate me to be more productive.

Things I track:
- how many words I've written each day (that's just for actual work projects, not the thousands I spend on forum posts)
- how many pages I've read each day (again, that's just books, not stuff like webpages)
- a list of every story, poem, and novel I've read, and every movie and tv show I've seen (I do this mostly because I have a really terrible memory, so I find it hard to remember if I've read or seen something from the title alone; having the titles listed somewhere lets me crosscheck, but it's also a great motivator to read/watch more stuff)

Ultimately, whether or not it's becoming counter-productive, by being too labor-intensive, just depends on how much you're actually getting done. If you're doing more than you used to, then it's probably a good thing, but if you find that keeping track of everything is itself becoming another job you feel compelled to do, then it's probably time to start cutting things. Since you made this thread, I'm assuming it's because it does feel like it's a little too much. 80/20 rule: identify the least-important things on your list and just cut them. It might not be 'perfect' but it will be sustainable.


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## slyfox (Nov 18, 2007)

Mxx1 said:


> I have tried to make a time sheet/ spread sheet myself but i just end quitting. I think it keeps a lot of order in what you do and you rememember a lot more of what you are going to do this and that day.
> 
> I do not know not if you are going too far... Try tracking less and put maybe just the most important bits maybe? Put more things just into one? Instead of lots of small things which is spread around. Maybe put plant care, bug care, shrimp care to one maybe? And call it outdoor care? I do not know just an idea. I am not used to making spread sheet x)
> 
> Your spread sheet looks very nice at least! Wish i bothered to do it.


Thanks. It was pretty easy to make just very tedious. Hopefully now that most of it is made(haven't bothered with the formulas/functions for categories I haven't done yet) it will just be something I can quickly enter my information into at the end of a week.

Yeah I might have to condense of ignore some things if I start being a lot more productive. I know I used to not bother with tracking my grocery shopping time, but thought I would add it to see how much time it and other things are taking away from goals I really want to do.



truant said:


> I have various 'stats' that I track, too. Not quite to this degree, though. I don't record how much time I spend on things, and I don't track everything I do, but I do track things that help me feel productive and that motivate me to be more productive.
> 
> Things I track:
> - how many words I've written each day (that's just for actual work projects, not the thousands I spend on forum posts)
> ...


That's a great idea tracking all the things you've read. I started that one year when I was reading a bunch of novels, but I have since lost the list. The movie one is also a good idea. Know I can't remember every horror movie I've watched.

Yeah some things aren't really important to me to track in the list. I just have things like grocery shopping to see how much time they are taking away from doing other things I want to focus on. At some point I'll probably have to just track the things I really want to focus on.

So far tracking hasn't consumed too much time. This week it did with starting the spreadsheet but now that it is mostly complete I expect that to be much less time.


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