Graduate School
Time Tracking
Productivity
Self Reflection
Quantified Self

A PhD Examined: Time Tracking

How Tracking My Time Helped Me Spend It Better

Joe Riad

8 min readDec 8, 2024

After I became interested in organizing my life and being more productive, my filter bubble expanded to include all kinds of productivity-related articles. One topic that kept coming up frequently was time tracking. The idea is that to track closely the time spent doing different tasks and look at the results after a week or so to determine how your time is being spent and whether you want to change your habits. At first I thought this was too much work. It required either installing time tracking software or keeping a time log with pen and paper. I figured I would never have the discipline to do this and I was looking to keep my productivity setup simple anyway.

When I eventually adopted Org as my overall productivity system, I saw that it had a simple time tracking feature. I could start a clock on a given task when I started working on it and stop the clock when I was done. Org would keep track of the time I spent on different tasks and could then provide me with all kinds of reports. Since I would open Org to look at my task list anyway, it was only an extra keyboard shortcut to start a clock on the task I decided to work on. When I found it to be this simple, I decided to give it a try. This was 5 years ago and I haven’t stopped tracking my time since. This article is about the benefits I have seen to time tracking and why I recommend it for other knowledge workers.

My Experience

When I first started out, I thought I would track time spent on “work” tasks only. So if I was writing a research article, spending some time in the lab to take some measurements, or even customizing my productivity system, I was tracking the time I spent on that. After a while, I decided to expand what I kept track of. I started tracking the time I spent on things like my commute to campus, social phone calls, and idle time I spent doing unproductive things (like scrolling social media feeds).

As I tracked my time more and more, I started seeing patterns emerge. I was able to see what my work rhythm looked like and found that, on my best day, I spent about 60–65% of my “work” time doing actual work. This was a sobering realization and it led me to try and do better every day. It also became a virtuous cycle: as I saw more benefits to time tracking, I started tracking time spent on more aspects of my life.

These days I have scaled back my time tracking a bit. I still track my time diligently on all the tasks I work on at home and in the office, but I no longer track idle time or commute time, for example. I initially tracked my time on social calls very diligently (especially during the pandemic lockdown) because I wanted to make sure I wasn’t neglecting my social life, but have also relaxed somewhat on this. After a few years of intense and diligent time tracking, I feel this middle ground is working best for me. I have a script that runs at the end of every day and gives me a report of how my time was spent among different areas of my life to make sure I am giving each area enough attention. The script produces such a report at the end of every week as well.

Part of my daily time report. Screenshot by author.

The Pomodoro Technique

One of the better insights I found from my time tracking data is that the Pomodoro technique actually works for me. This technique was invented by a college student in the 1980’s. He structured his work such that he would work for a short period of time (typically 25 minutes) that he called a Pomodoro, take a short break (5 minutes) and do another Pomodoro. After 4 Pomodoros, he would take a longer break (20–30 minutes) and then repeat the pattern all over again. The name Pomodoro is Italian for tomato after the shape of the kitchen timer he used to track his work habits. I had been reading about the Pomodoro technique for a while but never thought it could work for me because I figured that research work is not well suited to short bursts of work, but rather requires long stretches of focused effort.

My perspective changed on this because of time tracking. One day, while reviewing my time data for the day, I noticed a sharp uptick in my productive time compared to the previous days. When I thought back to what made that day special, I realized that I had inadvertently been taking frequent breaks that day. I got up several times to refill my water bottle and stay hydrated, and this led me to take frequent bathroom breaks. I also left my desk to have several side conversations. The frequent breaks meant that I never got tired or bored with my work and, as a result, ended up doing more of it. This insight showed me that the Pomodoro method could work for me and it also showed me that my “ideal” Pomodoro interval was a longer 45 minutes to an hour instead of the classic 25 minutes.

When I started adopting this style of work, my time tracking data showed my productive activity literally doubling over a month, then doubling again over the following month (i.e. it quadrupled over 2 months). This was a great time for me to discover that as I had been writing my dissertation at the time and could use all the productivity I was able to muster.

I don’t always have the discipline to stick to the Pomodoro technique, but whenever I do, I find that I’m more productive and feel less tired at the end of the day. There are a lot of Pomodoro timer apps out there, but I opted for a physical desktop timer that can be set to multiple intervals just based on the orientation it sits in on my desk.

Benefits of Time Tracking

So now that I’m no longer a grad student, why do I still track my time? I found many benefits to that over the 5 or so years I’ve been doing it, and I think you’ll probably be able to relate to at least one of them.

First off, tracking my time always creates a good sense of urgency. If I know that I’m “on the clock”, I tend to be more focused and dedicated to my task as I want the time tracking data to reflect “real” time worked. This leads to tasks being finished more quickly and more consistently.

As my Pomodoro story shows, tracking my time leads me to see insights and patterns into how I spend it and can point me to better ways of managing it. Time tracking can also point to shortcomings in my time management: e.g., “I haven’t spent enough time on social activities this week and I need to do better next week”.

Another unexpected benefit of time tracking is that I’m now far better able to estimate the time a new task would take me. If I can’t make a ballpark estimate based on my experience, I can always consult past time data on similar tasks. This means I’m better able to plan my day based on what I need to get done.

Time tracking also feeds into the main theme I keep coming back to: it gives me a sense of control. Knowing how my time is spent and when I need to course correct feeds into my sense of planning my life with intention and works greatly for my self-esteem.

Nowadays, I’m experimenting with using my time data for gamification. When I use my time “correctly”, I assign myself more points and can then cash in those points for rewards (leisure activities that I enjoy). With time data available in a consistently structured format, I’m able to do this point allocation automatically via a Python script.

Clockify Software

My method of time tracking works very well if I’m at my computer, but not so much if I’m tracking some activity I’m doing on the go. To do the latter, I use an app called Clockify. It’s available in desktop and mobile versions, but I mainly use the mobile version. It has a lot of features since it’s mainly geared towards professionals who track their time for billing purposes.

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The best feature to me about Clockify is that it has a very intuitive web API that can be easily accessed via any scripting language. This way, I can have Python collect my Clockify data at the end of the day and store it in my Org files under the proper headings so that I ensure that ultimately, all my time is tracked in the same place.

Concluding Thoughts

Time tracking might seem like a hassle at first, but it’s an easy habit to get into once you find the right system that works for you. In my own case, I found many benefits to time tracking once I built the discipline to stick with it. I urge you to experiment with time tracking for the next week or so and look back over your data to see if you can spot any patterns that help you manage your time better. You will probably see enough benefits to make time tracking a habit like I did.