A quick followup on time tracking to round out the week – while I track everything I do in a day, my home time is usually chunked into much larger segments – I don’t really want to get into the office earlier in the morning, and evenings are (mostly) for downtime and family, so I’m content to let those be what they are.
Except.
One easy to gather but hard to understand time tracking metric came up this week: I spend more than an hour a month brushing my teeth. And really, it should be two or three.
It’s easy because I use one of those fancy electric toothbrushes
If I was to ultra-optimize, and find a way to bill work in 2 minute increments, then basically I’m spending over a thousand dollars a year on my teeth, even before I go to the dentist (who seems quite affordable all of a sudden.)
And let’s not get started with other things that happen in the bathroom…
Anyway, time’s a funny thing. We can measure it easily, but most of the time we don’t. And we can assign a value to it pretty easily too, but again, most of the time we don’t, at least not consistently. And yet, if we focus hard enough, we can make some interesting rationalizations.
Some of these are no-brainers. I chose an office that’s a 10 minute walk from home because I didn’t want to waste time commuting, for example (and before I started my company, my online resume said I was looking for work in a very specific geographic area.) But others defy logic from a straight-up monetary perspective, because at their core, they’re luxurious choices. I’m spending tomorrow with my son instead of putting him in day care and working, even though I could make much more than the day care would cost. These choices, and having the ability to make them, are priceless to me.
What about you? Where do you waste your time, and do you do it consciously?
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