Where does your time go?
Time is like pocket money. If you don't write down what you spend it on, it disappears and you don't know where. A time diary shows you where every hour went.
- Everyone has the same 168 hours in a week (24 × 7). Productivity is about choosing where those hours go.
- Before changing anything, measure: track your time for 3–7 days in 30-minute chunks (paper, notes app, or a time-tracking app).
- Most phones have a built-in screen-time report (on iPhone: Settings > Screen Time; on many Android phones: Settings > Digital Wellbeing). It shows which apps take your time.
- Look for three things in your diary: time leaks (unplanned scrolling, waiting), energy peaks (when you think best), and important work that got no time.
- Choose 3 days to track, including at least one normal school or work day.
- Open a notebook or notes app and draw rows in 30-minute chunks.
- Every few hours, fill in what you did in each chunk. Do not wait until night.
- On your phone, open the screen-time report (iPhone: Settings, then Screen Time; many Android phones: Settings, then Digital Wellbeing) to see which apps took your time.
- At the end, highlight three things: your biggest time leak, your best energy hours and important work that got no time.
- Check: you have a full 3 days of notes and three highlights.
Videos by other creators on YouTube, for reference. They are not made by or affiliated with The Future Market.
Read the video script
[Host] "You can't manage what you don't measure. And that includes your time."
[Text on screen: 24 × 7 = 168 hours] "Everyone gets 168 hours a week. Where do yours go?"
[Screen: phone screen-time report] "Start here: open your phone's screen-time report. It might surprise you."
[Host] "Then keep a time diary for three days. No judging. Just notice."
Track your time for 3 days in 30-minute blocks. At the end, highlight your biggest time leak and your best energy hours.
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I'm learning "Time Management & Productivity" on The Future Market. Lesson 1: "Where does your time go?". What the lesson teaches: - Everyone has the same 168 hours in a week (24 × 7). Productivity is about choosing where those hours go. - Before changing anything, measure: track your time for 3–7 days in 30-minute chunks (paper, notes app, or a time-tracking app). - Most phones have a built-in screen-time report (on iPhone: Settings > Screen Time; on many Android phones: Settings > Digital Wellbeing). It shows which apps take your time. - Look for three things in your diary: time leaks (unplanned scrolling, waiting), energy peaks (when you think best), and important work that got no time. The exercise I'm working on: Track your time for 3 days in 30-minute blocks. At the end, highlight your biggest time leak and your best energy hours. --- I'm stuck. Please: 1. Explain the main idea in plain, simple words with one everyday example. 2. Walk me through the exercise one small step at a time. Ask me what I've done so far before giving the next step. 3. Don't just give me the final answer. Help me do it myself, and check my work when I share it.
I'm a parent helping my child (about 8 years old) with a lesson called "Where does your time go?" from the course "Time Management & Productivity". Here's what the lesson says: Time is like pocket money. If you don't write down what you spend it on, it disappears and you don't know where. A time diary shows you where every hour went. The activity: Track your time for 3 days in 30-minute blocks. At the end, highlight your biggest time leak and your best energy hours. --- Please explain this so an 8-year-old understands: short sentences, a fun everyday example, and no hard words. Then give me 3 simple questions I can ask my child to check they understood, and a way to do the activity together, one tiny step at a time.
Urgent vs important
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Plan with time blocks
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Why we underestimate time (the planning fallacy)
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Protect your focus (switching costs)
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Focus sprints and the weekly review
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Final project
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Quiz
How many hours are in a week?
168.
Which box of the urgent/important matrix is most often skipped?
Important but not urgent (Box 2).
What is time blocking?
Giving tasks a specific time on your calendar.
In the 1994 planning fallacy study, what was the average predicted vs actual thesis time?
About 33.9 days predicted vs 55.5 days actual.
What's one way to fight the planning fallacy?
Use past data, break tasks down, or add a buffer.
What happened to switching costs when tasks were more complex?
They increased.
Who created the Pomodoro Technique?
Francesco Cirillo.
What is the classic Pomodoro work interval?
25 minutes, followed by a short break.
Final exam
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Certificate
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