# I tracked every hour of 2025: what 5,952 hours of personal time data showed me

By František Hlinka (Solo developer of Nanominute) · Published October 14, 2026 · https://www.nanominuteapp.com/blog/i-tracked-every-hour-of-2025

> I'm the solo developer of Nanominute, so I'm not a neutral party here. I built it because I wanted it for myself, I use it every day, and I'm now sharing it with other people. There are no ads, and I never sell your time tracking data.

**Summary**
- I logged my regular days in 2025 with a timer: 5,952 hours across 248 days, one primary activity at a time.
- I slept 9 hours and 14 minutes a day, worked 4 hours 35 minutes on average, and spent 1 hour 15 minutes a day just getting around.
- The biggest lessons: sleep schedule matters more than duration, the 8-8-8 split is not real, and doing too many things fragments your time.

In 2025 I logged almost every minute of my regular days with a timer: **5,952 hours of personal time data** across 248 days. I stopped the timer only for travel, multi-day events and when I was sick. This post is the full picture of how I did it, what the numbers say, and what I changed because of them.

## Why did I track my time for a whole year?

On some evenings I felt like I had done nothing all day, and I could not say where the time went. Tracking gave me an answer for every single day. It also makes me more **intentional** about my day: every time I start a timer I have to decide "this is what I'm going to do now", and that small piece of mental work is the point. And, honestly, having the data is just cool.

## How did I track everything I did?

I used a timer and logged the **primary** thing I was doing at any moment. When I was with friends and also having a meal, I logged it as Social, because that was the main thing. This biases the data a little towards big categories, but it is the only way I found to keep tracking simple enough to do daily.

My setup was Toggl Track, an iPhone app called Timery, and an Apple Shortcut. A widget on my lock screen showed my list of timers, so switching activity took under two seconds. I describe the whole setup, and what annoyed me about it, in [Can you use Toggl Track for personal time tracking?](https://www.nanominuteapp.com/blog/toggl-for-personal-time-tracking)

## Where did my 5,952 hours go?

Sleep took 38.5% of everything I logged and work took 19.1%. The rest was spread over dozens of small categories, and the average is calculated per tracked day. Here are my ten biggest:

| Activity | Hours in 2025 | Per day | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sleep | 2,293 | 9:14 | 38.5% |
| Work | 1,139 | 4:35 | 19.1% |
| Relationship | 357 | 1:26 | 6.0% |
| Social and events | 314 | 1:15 | 5.3% |
| Moving (commute and transport) | 313 | 1:15 | 5.3% |
| Eating | 194 | 0:46 | 3.3% |
| Morning routine | 172 | 0:41 | 2.9% |
| Chilling | 164 | 0:39 | 2.7% |
| Scouting (volunteering) | 138 | 0:33 | 2.3% |
| Four side projects (combined) | 116 | 0:27 | 1.9% |

*Figure: Every tracked day of 2025, one column per day. Gaps are travel, multi-day events and sick days.*

*Figure: All 5,952 tracked hours in 2025.*

## What did I learn from my own time data?

Three things stood out, and they changed what I do.

### I sleep a lot, and the schedule matters more than the duration

I knew I slept a lot, but seeing it as a chart put it in perspective: 9 hours 14 minutes a day on average. The thing to fix was not the number of hours but when I went to bed.

### The 8-8-8 split is not real

The idea that you sleep a third of your life, work a third and have a third free does not match my data. Just being alive takes a lot of overhead: commuting, meals, routines, errands. The real remainder is much smaller than eight hours, so do not pressure yourself to turn all of it into hobbies and learning. I break the maths down in [the 8-8-8 rule is a myth](https://www.nanominuteapp.com/blog/how-much-free-time-do-you-have).

### Doing too many things fragments your time

In 2025 I ran four side projects, volunteered and kept up several hobbies. Spread that thin, none of them got very far. I want to drop some of them while keeping some variety. More on that in [how to find time for a side project when you work full time](https://www.nanominuteapp.com/blog/find-time-for-side-projects).

## How did weekdays and weekends differ?

Weekdays were work and commuting; weekends were relationships, friends and projects. I worked 6 hours a day on weekdays and 10 minutes on weekends. My four side projects got 5 minutes a day on weekdays and 1 hour 38 minutes a day on weekends.

| Activity (per day) | Weekdays | Weekends |
|---|---|---|
| Sleep | 9:09 | 9:32 |
| Work | 6:00 | 0:10 |
| Moving (commute and transport) | 1:36 | 0:10 |
| Relationship | 1:07 | 2:24 |
| Social and events | 1:05 | 1:49 |
| Four side projects | 0:05 | 1:38 |

*Figure: Weekdays: 4,512 tracked hours.*

*Figure: Weekends: 1,440 tracked hours.*

## How did my categories change along the way?

I started with a category called Micropauses for the dead time between activities: deciding what to do next, checking messages, switching focus. It turned out to be a bad idea. Running that timer made me procrastinate, because it validated the idea of "dead time", and it never told me anything useful.

Now I put the one to three minutes of overhead into the current or next activity. For the times I get stuck deciding things, like how to arrange my day or what to eat for lunch, I created a separate Deciding category. It added up to just over three hours in the whole year.

Granularity is a choice. I tracked showering separately (14 minutes a day) but lumped most chores into one category. If you want to choose yours deliberately, see [how to do a personal time audit](https://www.nanominuteapp.com/blog/personal-time-audit).

## Why did I build Nanominute?

My Toggl setup worked, but it took a lot of setup and had quirks: three separate pieces, a midnight workaround that sometimes failed, and a tool built for work rather than for life. Early in 2026 I left my job to build the tracker I actually wanted, and that is [Nanominute](https://www.nanominuteapp.com/).

I'm the person who built it, so weigh my opinion accordingly. I built it for my own pain point, I use it every day, and now I'm sharing it with other people.

If you want to try your own audit first with nothing but a free spreadsheet, [the tools I tried](https://www.nanominuteapp.com/blog/best-personal-time-tracking-apps) are a good starting point. A single week of data is enough to learn something surprising.

## FAQ

**How many hours did you track in 2025?**
5,952 hours across 248 days: 188 weekdays (4,512 hours) and 60 weekend days (1,440 hours). I only stopped the timer for travel, multi-day events and when I was sick.

**How did you make the charts?**
I exported the raw data from Toggl Track and built the charts with a Python script using the Plotly library. I lightly edited them in Figma to add context for the missing days, and grouped some categories (like my four side projects) so the charts stay readable.

**Did you track everything you did, even at the same time?**
No. I only tracked the primary thing I was doing at any moment. If I ate a meal with friends, it counted as Social, not Eating. That biases the data towards the big categories, but it keeps tracking simple enough to keep up for a whole year.

**How long does it take to get used to time tracking?**
A few days. At first you forget to switch the timer. After that, the small decision of 'what am I doing now?' becomes a habit and starts to make your days feel more intentional.