I tracked what I did for every hour of my life for the last 5 years, splitting all activities into 11 categories. It helped me stop wasting time.

• Trevor Sweet tracked every hour of his life starting when he was in high school, posting it on Reddit.
• He said it helped him see when he was procrastinating too much, and looking at the data is an "engine for nostalgia." 
• Read about Trevor's experiment and what he learned, as told to Samantha Delouya. 

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Trevor Sweet, a 22-year-old software developer. It has been edited for length and clarity.

I started tracking every hour of my life when I was in high school in 2017. Five years later, I'm still doing it and have no plans to stop.