What did I do in 2023?

Tracking my work and non-work time.

Last updated on 2023-12-29

What is this?

This is the fourth edition of my time tracking analysis, adding in the 2023 calendar year. Past versions include:

Targets for 2023 included:

  • Disconnecting:
    • Minimum of 1/day week with no work
    • Maximum of 1 day/week with evening work
  • Time allocation:
    • Average 20% time research
    • <= 1 day/month field work.

I track the hours in a simple google sheet at 30 min resolution and divided into a few simple categories:

  • talking = things that involved other people… meetings, seminars, zoom calls, etc.
  • logistics = stuff that is generally unimportant (but sometimes necessary). emails, expense reports, etc.
  • research = writing proposals or papers, making presentations, data analysis, reading papers, etc.
  • mentees = talking to or working with someone who I am mentoring such as a postdoc or student, including reviewing their work
  • conference = anything at a conference/workshop. I define it broadly so it includes going out for meals with colleagues, etc. - basically, any time I am in the presence of other people.
  • service = journal or grant reviews, committees, open science stuff, etc.

Baseline stats: How much do I work?

My typical weekly workload remains consistent, with a median of 40 hours weekly:

After accounting for time off by dividing total hours worked over number of work days, I’ve had a slight increase to 8.5 in 2023, up from 8.3 hours in 2022 but still down from my peak of 9.5 when I started tracking in 2019:

Key goals/indicators

1. No work on days off

I set this goal at the beginning of 2021, after observing that I often was checking/responding to email on weekends. I’ve made continued improvements here each of the past three years, and am up to 82 days with absolutely no work in 2023.

Looking weekly, this means there was at least one day completely off in 46 weeks. Since there are only 52 weeks in the year, minimal improvement is possible here, but I can aim for more weeks with at least two days completely off (i.e., both weekend days) - in 2023, I only had 17 weeks where I took two days off.

My full Saturdays off have been fairly consistent the past couple years, along with a short (< 2 hrs) bit of work on Sundays. Increasing the number of weeks with 2 full days off would require shifting my week planning from it’s current timeslot (Sunday after lunch) to the end of the prior week (Friday afternoon).

2. Do more research and less logistics

In 2023, I worked basically the exact same number of hours as 2022 (1867 hours), with basically flat percent of my time allocated to logistics + talking (just over half, at 50.6%). However, my percent time for research did jump from 10.8% in 2022 to 15.4% in 2023, with a smaller jump for mentees (18.6% to 20.1%).

These increases were compensated for by minor decreases in field work, service, and teaching. So, trending in the right direction, though the overall number of hours spent on logistics remains fairly sticky across the entire period of record, and decreases in total hours worked and shifts in time allocation tends to come at the expense of other activities.

3. Less evening work

There remains a pretty clear seasonal pattern for evening work, with the most activity during the semester and less over the summer. In 2023, there were clear peaks in June (associated with a proposal deadline) and October/November (associated with teaching).

In 2023, I was aiming for <= 1 day/week with evening work, as I thought that would be an easier goal to keep on top of than 10 hrs/week (my previous goal), and it looked like the shift in goal was effective. I’m up to 28 weeks in 2023 with <= 1 day/week with evening work. So, while there hasn’t been a big shift in terms of hours, it has been concentrated into a smaller number of days, leaving more evenings completely free.

4. Maximum 12 total field work days.

The number of days I spent out in the field has continued to decrease from its high point in 2021, due primarily to a decrease in the field work requirements due to some projects ending and others reaching relatively stable conditions focused on field maintenance, rather than new field installations.

Any updates for 2024?

My 2024 goals are focused on maintaining and continued progress along most of these dimensions:

  • Maintain 1/day week with no work and increase number of weeks with at least 2 days/week with no work.
  • Maximum of 1 day/week with evening work.
  • Maintain research time at least 15% with target of 20%.
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Sam Zipper
HEAL PI; Assistant Scientist/Professor

I specialize in ecohydrology and hydrogeology of agricultural and urban landscapes.