Analyze Productivity Patterns

Manage Work Categories

Understanding Your Work Duration Effectiveness

1. Log Your Work Sessions Consistently (Log Session Tab)

After completing a focused work session, log it:

• Date: The date the session took place.
• Task/Activity: What you worked on.
• Category: Assign it to a relevant category (manage these in the "Categories" tab).
• Actual Duration: How long you actually worked in minutes (e.g., 25, 50, 90).
• Effectiveness Score (1-5): Rate how effective you felt that session was:
  • 1: Very Ineffective (many distractions, little accomplished)
  • 2: Slightly Ineffective (some progress, but below par)
  • 3: Moderately Effective (average, typical output)
  • 4: Effective (good focus, solid progress)
  • 5: Highly Effective (peak focus, flow state, significant results)
• Notes: Briefly mention any factors that influenced your effectiveness (e.g., "Quiet environment," "Interrupted frequently," "Felt tired").

2. Analyze Your Effectiveness Patterns (Analyze Effectiveness Tab)

Choose a period (e.g., Last 30 Days) and click "Analyze Data." The tool will show you:

• Average Effectiveness by Work Duration: This chart helps you see if you tend to be more or less effective when working for certain lengths of time (e.g., are your 25-minute sessions rated higher than your 90-minute ones?).
• Average Effectiveness by Category: See which types of tasks you tend to be most effective at, or if certain categories correlate with different effectiveness scores.
• Summary Findings: The tool will try to highlight duration brackets or categories where your self-rated effectiveness is highest.

3. Interpret and Act on Insights

• Identify your "peak duration" – the length of a work session where you consistently rate your effectiveness highly. Try to structure more of your important work into sessions of this length.
• If long sessions show declining effectiveness, consider incorporating more frequent short breaks.
• If certain task categories consistently have lower effectiveness scores, explore why. Do you need different strategies for those tasks? Different times of day?
• Use your notes to understand the context behind your scores. What makes a "Highly Effective" session for you? Try to replicate those conditions.

4. Experiment and Refine

This tool helps you learn about your personal work style. Use the insights to experiment with different work patterns, session lengths, and break schedules to find what maximizes your sustainable productivity.