I tried logging everything I do "while on my work desk" for the last 20 days and it's interesting.

For some context, I have a technical background and am pursuing my masters degree in Germany. I recently read about some amazing stuff you can do with a gyroscope sensor on your dominant hand to log your daily life without actively having to log every hour.

For the last 20 days I wore this "make-shift" device that logs my working habits, (for now it only recognizes writing, typing, Idle / scrolling phone and taking sips from a cup).

The discoveries I made about myself are more weird than interesting. It's amusing how many small details we miss while self reporting/ reflecting on our day.

I tracked around 105 hours of desk activity over a span of 20 days.

Most interesting discoveries :

• Around 30% of all my time spent on desk was scrolling my phone. ( Idk how much of it was doom scrolling and how much of it was something useful)

• I drank around 35 cups (mostly coffee) and ironically, my phone usage spikes while drinking it and stays high for 30 minutes after. ( So much for being my focus coffee !)

• Out of all the time I spent on desk it was only 30% of total time that was spend on Writing and Typing combined.

• Considering all Idle time ( no phone scrolling) as focused reading / trying to understand something on the screen, I spent about 40% of total time in focused work.

• None of my continuous focus blocks last more than 30-40 mins (43 mins being the highest).

• I get distracted by my phone roughly every 30 mins, on better focus days / exam pressure days, this only improves sightly to around 50ish mins. Average distraction duration is about 10-15 mins ( Swings between 2 mins to 20 mins )

On Productive Days ( My post-day assessment 8 days )

Time spent on desk : 4-6 hours / day

• 30% (Typing + Writing) + 50% Idle (Reading hopefully) + 20% (Using phone).
• I drink less coffee while working during a productive day in most cases 1 or none.
• My focus duration doesn't improve, I still get distracted every 30 mins or so but each of these distract sessions last less than 5 mins.
• Somehow my most productive sessions start between 10 am to 11:30 am and as I end these sessions around 3 - 4 ish ( The sun goes down here in winters and so is my willingness to work)
• 90% of my productive hours have been during the day.

On Non- Productive days ( My post-day assessment 12 days)

Time spent on desk : 3-5 hours / day

• 20% (Typing + Writing) + 30% Reading + 50% (Using phone).
• Around 2-3 coffee's per day.
• My average focus duration is around 15 mins.
• All these days I had morning classes hence I tried starting a session around 5:30 pm to 6 pm and mostly it never worked out. Only 1/8 productive day started in the evening hour.

Weekly Trends : 

• I seem to operate on an alternating cycle. My 'battery' can sustain a maximum of two good days in a row then I almost always have a non productive day.
• I work best on the edges of the weekend, riding the new-week high on Monday and the pre-weekend sprint on Friday

These insights into my daily routine have been honestly fascinating to watch unfold. I’m currently looking for deeper patterns, trying to figure out if I can reverse-engineer my habits to 'hack' my brain into better consistency and bridge the gap between my productive and non-productive days. I just wanted to share these early observations. What’s interesting to know would be if anyone else with a similar lifestyle finds themselves navigating these same specific productivity cycles?