The Unexpected Side Effects...
... of Time Tracking
I’ve been tracking my time for a while now. Not in an obsessive way—just noting what I’m doing throughout the day. And here’s the thing: the obvious benefits aren’t even the most interesting part.
One of the strangest discoveries? It’s surprisingly hard to answer two simple questions at any given moment: “What am I doing right now?” and “What should I do next?”
Sounds ridiculous, right? But think about it. Have you ever caught yourself doing... something... for half an hour without really knowing what? You got up to make coffee. But on the way to the kitchen you noticed dirty dishes. Started loading the dishwasher. Then saw the plants needed watering. Went to get the watering can...
Twenty minutes later you’re standing in the hallway with an empty mug, no coffee, and honestly no idea what you were originally doing.
This is normal. Living in the modern world means constant battle with distractions. Our attention is pulled in a hundred directions before breakfast.
Here’s where time tracking becomes unexpectedly useful. When you walk into that kitchen for coffee and glance at your phone, there’s a timer running: “Writing article.” That tiny reminder reorganizes your brain. Because if you want to do the dishes now, you’d have to stop this timer and start a new one: “Doing dishes.” The friction is just enough. You grab your coffee and go back to writing.
This seemingly small thing leads to something much bigger—actually being present in the moment. What Buddhist monks pursue through years of asceticism turns out to be achievable through simple daily practices, no monastery required.
Over time you learn to quickly answer “what am I doing right now?” at any moment. Fair warning: your friends might start finding you a bit blunt. You become harder to pull away from work with casual chitchat about the weather.
But the productivity results will surprise you. Unconscious context-switching is the silent killer of effectiveness—and possibly the biggest enemy of getting things done today. Give it a try. In a couple of weeks, you might not recognize yourself.
If you’d like to try this practice, I builtTickwiseexactly for this purpose—a simple time tracker for iOS that helps you stay present throughout your day.