Inspired by the brilliant graphs over at Information is Beautiful, I spent some time finishing up a little data visualisation I've been meaning to do.
I seem to be on a permanent quest to reduce time wastage, and I was curious where my time was actually being spent. So, I recorded a week of my life in 5 minute intervals, rounded numbers to the nearest hour, grouped similar activities and popped it in a spreadsheet.
It turned out, fortunately, to be a fairly typical week. Work was hectic, and I spent a few extra hours at the office buried in code. I had Open University work to do, though no more so than usual. I didn't do enough cooking or reading, watched too much TV and definitely didn't get enough sleep. Running is conspicuously absent, though I did have a couple of squash matches.
Unfortunately, this didn't really tell me much I didn't already know. There were no giant time-sinks that I was blissfully unaware of. I need to spend a little less time at the office, in the pub or watching TV and a little more time reading, exercising and sleeping.
By the way, I have no way of knowing how much of an impact, if any, the Observer Effect will have had on the data, but this is fairly unscientific anyway, so I'm not going to lose any sleep over it.
25 Comments
I like how you laid this out and explained it. I checked out the inspirational site, too, thanks for the rec.
I want to try something visual like you did but I have so many bad habits it may be overwhelming to see them organized as such.
But the GTD in me says do it. Thanks for the idea.
#1, Damian, Northeast USA, 27 September 2009. Reply to this.
Your life chart is fascinating! :)
So, average, You sleep 6 hours a day and work 8 hours a day (include your weekends). How to take care yourself? Do u feel tired, headache or sometime bored ?
I usually sleep 7 hours a day and work8 hours a day (except weekends). Sometimes I feel sleepy... :(
I also like reading books. And I tried to send 1hours a day to read them.
Thanks for ur idea. It's great to make a LIFE CHART :)
#2, quangnd, vietnam, 29 September 2009. Reply to this.
#1 Damian: Speaking of bad habits, I'm glad I don't smoke any more - that would be ... at a guess ... 12 hours on that chart (as a pack-a-day smoker).
That's really surprised me. What an amazing waste of time that was!
#2 quangnd:
> So, average, You sleep 6 hours a day and work 8 hours a day (include your weekends).
Something like that. I do spend too much time at work, but when things are busy, that happens.
#3, Dave Child, United Kingdom, 29 September 2009. Reply to this.
Interesting. I would suggest cutting down on the geeking by 50%. Also the bathroom figure looks a little high. Depends what you are doing in the bathroom but perhaps there is room there for some efficiencies?
#4, Carol, Unknown, 29 September 2009. Reply to this.
#4 Carol: I would cut down on the geeking, but between this site and side projects there's not a lot of room for improvement. I've already cut most of the side projects, and I don't write enough on this site as it is! :)
#5, Dave Child, United Kingdom, 30 September 2009. Reply to this.
Great chart! It would look similar to my own - I really need more sleep, less work and less of a commute to work!
#6, Alex, Australia, 2 October 2009. Reply to this.
Excellent! I love this sort of stuff. You have inspired me to do my own weekly time chart. Hmmm... time-sinks here I come! :)
#7, Russ, Brisbane, Australia, 5 October 2009. Reply to this.
Hi first time reader - jsut caught wind of this post. What is open university? (Yes I have been living in a cave apparently.. ha)
#8, Mike, United States, 7 October 2009. Reply to this.
Now i'm not that old i got a proper work yet (just 15 haha) but my future everyday could very easy end up being just as filled up with work as your week... ;)
Btw - nice 'picture'
#9, Christian Selch, Denmark, 12 October 2009. Reply to this.
what are you complaining about? you time is really good spent. I calculate here how much it makes in a day and it seems good. you do not waste your time at all. you use it wisely! no tv, instead books, etc...the thing with work is always the same ;o( maybe you can earn some money with your site so you hv to work less (in a office).
#10, ortlieb, Germany, 19 October 2009. Reply to this.
You are obviously single! A wife and kids turns your life upside-down-- you'd cry at your time log, you really would. But it's worth it :D
#11, Randy, United States, 23 October 2009. Reply to this.
Randy, au contraire - I'm married, though no kids yet.
#12, Dave Child, United Kingdom, 23 October 2009. Reply to this.
Thanks for this nice article ...that opens sight of the life
#13, Fmaier, Germany, 26 October 2009. Reply to this.
Great article... mine was like yours a few years ago, now it has changed; no exercise, no social life, and no school, it's all work & geek! and no play! Just wanted to thank you for the great Cheat sheets...
#14, Guy, United States, 26 October 2009. Reply to this.
It is great to hear that I am not the only one who tends to work so much. Remember what they say about working so much; you have to make time to play!
#15, Deborah Shevaun, Unknown, 27 October 2009. Reply to this.
@Deborah
Yea I think everyone who want to be happy need to work so much...
#16, s.holstens, Germany, 28 October 2009. Reply to this.
i like it this work that show in this work sheet b/c we acess that of work in socialogical.i have make time betterfor us and you also have make time for much better.....
#17, Abdul munaf soomro, shikarpur, 31 October 2009. Reply to this.
It's such a good idea, but I think I would freek out discovering how much time I loose in my days doing nothing and how I could use it doing somthing else, like reading or do sport. Or sleep more!
#18, Marina Rencontre, Unknown, 11 November 2009. Reply to this.
I suppose "socialization" is a very broad category...at least I hope so for your sake.
#19, Louis William Rose, United States, 12 November 2009. Reply to this.
@Loius: I'm sure socialisation is a "broad category", but it doesn't appear on the chart. Socialising does.
#20, Dave Child, United Kingdom, 15 November 2009. Reply to this.
I am not quite sure how I wound up here on a Sunday morning. Bored and culling through my Favorites, trying to figure out why THIS computer as opposed to the 3 or 4 others I use doesn't show my Quick Links in Internet Expolorer. I should just go to Firefox and never look back.
I do want to applaud your life cycle chart and your web site in general. Just making THAT page has to take an hour or two and there are only so many waking hours in a week. In deference to earlier comments about cutting down on the geeking, it's not like geeking is all that glamorous. Sometimes geeking means trying to figure out why this or that doesn't work. Could be researching forums for your car's make/model to see if you can pick up an XM module instead of paying the dealer double that. This is the modern day equivelant of "hunting and foraging".
#21, Steve, United States, 22 November 2009. Reply to this.
This looks great - can you let us know how you created this graphic?
Replies: #24.
#22, Suman S, United States, 25 November 2009. Reply to this.
Interesting, I like the graph. Would be nice to hear, which software you used. You should definitely sleep more.
Replies: #24.
#23, Frank, Germany, 9 December 2009. Reply to this.
#22 and #23 - The graphic was created with Xara Xtreme (actually, this time it was Xara Xtreme for Linux). I'm trying to move to Inkscape and the GIMP so I can ditch Windows entirely, but it's slow going - I've been using Xara for over a decade!
#24, DaveChild, UK, 9 December 2009. Reply to this.
So, ideally you'd spend less time for entertainment? Seems odd to me.. other than that.. I waste way to much time in front of the telly, you git an edge there.
#25, Rosen, UK, 4 January 2010. Reply to this.