@basilesamel’s post about tracking data and time for personal growth got me thinking about my own experience. Everyone’s context differs, so ymmv.

I tracked time on tasks before too, but I found it was a proxy measure at best. Hours spent could not tell me whether about quality of work done, whether it was deep work or distracted work. I also realised that managing my energy was more fundamental, because 1h of high energy, deep focus produced more impact than 1h of (semi-)distracted work. And in our always-on world of smartphones, chat apps and social media, our attention is under siege. 

I constantly come back to The Energy Project by Tony Schwartz often, as he was the first one to highlight how productivity should be energy management, less time:

Time is finite, but we act as if it were otherwise, assuming that longer hours always lead to increased productivity. But in reality our bodies are designed to pulse and pause – to expend energy and then renew it.

So it was a bit of painful learning and reframing about productivity: from time management to energy management. But that’s not all to it. Even great energy management cannot solve the problem of good energy spent in the wrong direction.

Even if I had 8h of deep work, but if I had been working on the wrong things, it will not further my progress. So direction and working on the right things mattered more than the hours put in. I was running fast but towards the wrong destination. Even now, this is the one mistake I make the most often. I’m more of a do-er, so I tend to prioritize action. And because I want to optimize joy at work, I tend to follow the things that I enjoy doing. But sometimes that might not be the right things to work on to further my progress. For example, I like creating new things. But post-launch, I suck, especially at marketing, sales and monetization. It’s apparent even today, in Keto List Singapore and Sweet Jam Sites. Now that I’d launched them, I prefer to build more new features (or move on to another project!), than work on my acquisition channels, marketing funnels, content marketing etc. It was frustrating as I keep circling back on these innate biases, but in a good pain sort of way, to learn all that.

So am I saying that we just need to track direction, not energy or time? Nope. I believe we need to track all three. It’s like a funnel, of hybrid data: 

? Is this the right task to do now that will further my progress towards my goals?

Data needed: vision goals, SMART goals, goals breakdown to tactics/tasks

? Am I operating at my optimum energy level and focus? 

Data needed: realtime sense of self awareness on energy level, post-hoc reflection on quality of attention, or even, neurofeedback from sensors like the Muse (or when the tech is ready)

? Am I spending enough (or too much) time on this?

Data needed: data visualisation of hours spent/not spent on different tasks

Wondering if I missed anything here? How are you tracking all the other things that helps your progress?

P.S.: This is coming useful at a time when I’m planning ahead for the next year and new decade!