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Time Audit

productivity · medium · 1-2 minutes per recording; 1 hour for week-end analysis

What is Time Audit?

Track how you actually spend every 30-minute block for one full week. Reveals the gap between perceived and actual time use — most people discover they lose 2-4 hours daily to unintentional activities.

Is there evidence for it?

EVIDENCEmoderate

How do you do Time Audit?

  1. 1.For 7 consecutive days, record what you're doing every 30 minutes (set phone reminders)
  2. 2.Use a simple spreadsheet, time-tracking app (Toggl, RescueTime), or paper log
  3. 3.Be honest: if you spent 45 minutes on social media, write it down — no rounding or beautifying
  4. 4.At week's end, categorize all time into: productive work, maintenance, leisure, wasted/unintentional
  5. 5.Identify your top 3 time leaks and design specific interventions for each

How long does it take?

1-2 minutes per recording; 1 hour for week-end analysis.

Is it hard to start?

medium.

> how Shift handles procrastination

Source: Laura Vanderkam (168 Hours, 2010; I Know How She Does It, 2015). Her research of 1,000+ time logs showed that most people overestimate work hours and underestimate leisure time by 15-20 hours per week.
awareness · time-management · tracking · audit · efficiency · self-knowledge
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This is one entry from the library Shift matches against. It is general information, not advice about you, and nothing on this page came from anyone's conversation.