I tracked my time for 7 days. Here's everything I learned.

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I tracked every minute of my life for 7 days (okay maybe not that extreme lol).

And let me tell you, it revealed things to me that I should have known sooner.

I was inspired to do this when @Matt Rice sent a video within the Synthesizer Scaling community responding to @Luke Macaulay about time and expense tracking about two weeks back.

That video was Sam Oven's YouTube video "Tired of Wasting Your Time? (Watch this)."

I'll share it in this post below.

I already knew how valuable time was beforehand, but I knew if I wanted to get real results in my life, it was "time" for me to start tracking that time 😅

I used a simple Google Sheet tracker that was used by the legend Sam Oven's himself, in which he calls it the "80/20 Power Grid."

Here are the categories based on value (according to Sam):

-$100/hr (Destruction)

$0/hr (Stagnation)
$10/hr (Maintenance)
$100/hr (Growth)
$1k/hr (Investment)
$10k/hr (Leverage)
$100k/hr (Innovation)

Keep in mind, most of these aren't a direct result to make money in the short-term.

These either help (or harm you) in the long-term.

Let's dive in to the meat and potatoes!

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-$100/hr Tasks: Destruction.

These are the activities that actively drain your future. And it adds up quick if you're not careful.

Examples:

• Eating fast food

• Drinking alcohol

• Breaking promises

• Hanging out with negative people

• Worrying about opinions of others

The biggest goal out of all of this is to spend LESS time on these activities, so you can spend MORE time on more meaningful pursuits.

My personal audit: 0 hours spent on these tasks over the past week.

When I was younger, I spent *many* hours worried about what other people think, spending time with negative people, and breaking promises to myself. So I'm fortunate to have made this personal transformation in my own life.

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$0/hr Tasks: Stagnation.

These are tasks that aren't necessary evil in itself, but they won't be moving you forward either.

Examples:

• Watching Netflix

• Playing video games

• Doomscrolling on social media

My guilty pleasure is admittedly a game called OldSchool RuneScape (secretly-but-not-so-secretly-now an MMO nerd lol).

My personal audit for the past week was 6 hours logged on it. Plus an additional 4 hours of Netflix because my girlfriend came into town and I wanted to spend some time with her.

Now you might be thinking, "that's not so bad." And you're right.

If you genuinely enjoy video games, watching Netflix, and checking Facebook to catch up on updates with your family, then that's all fine!

BUT... if it's something that's controlling your life, and pulling you away from doing the things that are going to really move the needle in your life and business, then some intervention needs to take place.

For context: I used to be ADDICTED to video games. RuneScape especially.

It wasn't uncommon for me to have spent 12-14 hours a day CONSECUTIVELY on it.

Staying up well past midnight, dopamine fried, bloodshot eyes - I was a mess (and in hindsight, I would have put it in the $-100/hr category during that season of my life)

I'm grateful to be in a position where I can enjoy the same hobby in moderation, while also taking care of the needed tasks throughout the day without feeling guilty either.

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$10/hr Tasks: Maintenance

The unsexy tasks we all know and love* (or maybe not lol).

Nothing sexy about 'em, but we know they exist.

But generally speaking, if your day is filled with a whole bunch of these "maintenance" tasks, your life as a result will look pretty mediocre.

Examples:

• Running errands

• Cooking & cleaning

• Replying to comments

• Household maintenance

Many of these tasks can either be minimized, delegated, automated, and oftentimes eliminated if it's not a priority.

My personal audit:

4 hours cooking

2 hours doing dishes

4 hours replying to comments*

*Now I'm not sure how many of you here came from the Synthesizer community.

But as part of its Roadmap, one of the core primary actions we take to reach financial (or in this case, Synthesizer) freedom are to make comments!

And if done well, it can present new and awesome opportunities in the future!

If you want to make the most out of your comments, follow these principles 👇🏻

Reciprocity - when you help first, others help in return
Service - Think from the Creators POV. What type of comments do you love receiving/responding to?
Authenticity - Write how you speak, show personality, be yourself, be funny.
Polarity - Don't mimic the herd. Add a new/contradicting view point.
Expansion - Bring new points and your own stories and ideas to the conversation.
Thoughtfulness - Ask thoughtful targeted questions on specific parts you found interesting

Went a bit off tangent there, but I thought it was worth sharing :)

Moving ahead!

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$100/hr Tasks: Growth

This is where we finally start heading in the green.

Examples:

Reading books/consuming with intent

Making content for your target audience

Learning and applying from courses
Delivering for a client or doing case study work

These tasks are responsible for the majority of your journey to freedom and are 1000% worth doing more of.

My personal audit:

4 hours reading (Bible study and in the middle of a book called Effortless by Greg McKeown)

4 hours creating a YouTube video (ideation, Thumbnail, recording and uploading included)

2 hours spent watching a Synthesizer Scaling Systems recording (couldn't attend live)

2 hours creating Skool posts

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$1,000/hr Tasks: Investments

This is where you build the operator, not just the business.

They may not pay you now, but it forms you into the person you need to become to make beautiful money (and live the good life).

Examples:

• Exercise & sleep

• Networking with smart people

• Planning your day with intention

• Going for a walk

• Meditation

My personal audit:

3 hours of planning my days

7 hours attending Skool networking sessions and events

3 hours of walking outdoors

48 hours of Sleep

3 hours working out (running + gym)

1 hour discovery call with a qualified lead

16 hours of relaxation

7 hours of church service and fellowship

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$10,000/hr Tasks: Leverage

This is where you create true value to your customers/clients.

Examples:

• Creating and improving your offers

• Creating and improving your products

• Selling to qualified leads

• Fixing repeating problems

• Honest self-reflection and analysis

Even a few hours a week dedicated to these pursuits are going to move the needle tremendously, in the short and long-term.

My personal audit:

1 hour improving onboarding process

1 hour creating a custom offer for a prospect

1 hour of self-reflection

I could definitely spend a bit more time with this, no doubt lol.

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$100,000/hr tasks: Innovation

These are often the tasks associated for people who have been in the business-game for literal decades and plan to scale to potentially billions of dollars per year.

Examples:

Capital allocation decisions
Salary and incentive decisions
Establishing long-term partnerships
Setting long-term strategy/direction

If we're being honest, the VAST majority of us (including myself) aren't at the stage where these tasks make sense. These are complex tasks that only makes sense for seasoned business owners (like Alex Hormozi for example).

My personal audit:

0 hours lol

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Here's my audit summary:

• 10 hours on $0 tasks (Netflix & RuneScape).

• 11 hours on $10 tasks (Cooking, cleaning, and replying to comments)

• 12 hours on $100 tasks (Reading, Making content, and watched a cohort call)

• 88 hours on $1k tasks (planning, exercise, rest and networking)

• 3 hours on $10k tasks (Onboarding, creating offer, self-reflection)

While not perfect, I'm looking to improve these by this week and allocate my time more wisely toward things that will genuinely move the needle for the business.

And doing an honest audit of where my time goes has been a super powerful tool for taking back control. Looking forward to doing more of this!

And if you want a copy of Sam Oven's 80/20 Power Grid tracker, I'll include it here!

I go more in-depth sharing my experience with tracking over the last 7 days with my own YouTube video included in this post!

Hope you guys find this valuable 💙 Thank you very much for

@Lukas Schmidt

for accepting me in this wonderful community and allowing me to share this with you all!

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