Intentional Time Update
Update on my last post! The "F1/F2" Time Tracking System only lasted 3 days. Turns out my concerns were right; the whole idea of tracking time on my phone added more complexity and didn't serve the idea of simplifying my life. While it was effective in getting me to be more conscious of my time spent on low-effort activities, there were big weaknesses that made the overall system ineffective.
An interesting occurrence: I went biking with my friend for about 4 hours and tracked it as F2 time. Once I got home, based on my system, I could therefore spend 4 hours scrolling reddit and still be in-budget. After I did, though, I felt terrible. Clearly, that was a glaring flaw in the system. LOL it sounds really stupid written out, but I'm glad I had that experience to expose that weakness.
Takeaways that I'll apply to the future: Tracking my F1 time was effective in getting me to notice the passage of time while zonking out on an endless feed. Noticing the time passing was useful in snapping me out of it, sometimes, but not always. Tracking my F2 time was counterproductive, because when I want to get immersed in a high-quality leisure activity, having a timer running is distracting. Plus, tracking that time makes me feel like I "should" -- or at least could -- "spend" it equally on an F1 activity, leading me back into something I'm trying to limit.
I still don't want to get lost on reddit or youtube while on my computer, so I applied a screen that pops up every 5 minutes while I scroll to interrupt my session and ask me to write something I enjoyed reading/watching in the last 5 minutes. This should give me regular opportunities to leave and at the very least question my enjoyment of the activity. It's also been just annoying enough to lead me to consult reddit only when I want to find something specific.
Anyway, today I went to the gym for 15 minutes. I'm trying to get some wins and start the habit up again, so I gotta start small!
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