Andrew Watts

Dr. Danielle Lawson

RPTM 120

14 November 2021

Time Diary Phase 2

Intro- By tracking what I do over 3 days, it has shown me many things like my mood

and stress at various parts of the day along with the amount of technology I use. I have never

seen my day plan written in such detail and has gotten me interested in why these things happen.

While the amount of technology depends on what I have to do that day in class and for

homework, my stress and emotions depend entirely on myself and how I approach different

activities. This can be very helpful to see what you can adjust to become more successful and

happy throughout your day.

Topic 1- One thing that surprised me about what I did with my weekday was that I have

very little time to relax between classes on Monday and Wednesday because of my classes from

10 am then running right into volleyball practice (weekday 1). On days that correlate with the

same schedule of weekday 1, I often use my phone to listen to music because it is a convenient

way to reduce stress while walking to and from classes. I was surprised by how little I use

technology compared to other people because I do not use my phone for about 4 hours total of

practice and lift. I only reported using my phone for 3-4 hours on weekday 1 while, “Americans

spend an average screen time of 5.4 hours on their mobile phones daily,” (GD). This suggests

that I use my phone for less than the average American because I am distracted from other things

in the day that is keeping me productive.

 On weekday 2 I tracked Tuesday which should have been a busier day for me but ended

up feeling sick once I walked to my first class where I walked to get a covid test then home to

rest. Because I did not go to class or practice, it looked like I had much more free time compared

to my normal schedule. This caused an increase in sleep and use of technology because I did not

have much else to do and I wanted to get ahead on homework. On my weekend I did not do any

work because I tracked Saturday which I normally take a day off of homework and focus on

being social with my friends while they do the same. If I had tracked Sunday, there would have

been more time dedicated to working because most of my assignments are due on Sunday.

Topic 2- It was very interesting tracking my stress and emotions during the day because I

have never looked at them as a number as the day progresses. I was surprised my highest level

of stress came from going to my RPTM 101 class because my professor introduced a few major

assignments with lots of work and time before the deadline. Across the rest of the day, I only

received stress from going to lift early in the morning and doing rehab for my ankle because it

was right before practice. Once practice starts and I am warmed up, I am not stressed anymore

because I am in a state of flow. I achieve this after I warm up because sometimes I warm up and

feel injured or extremely tired and get more stressed. If I feel like I have gotten a good warmup

and feel good, I can focus all my energy on improving my skills and becoming better at the

game. “It involves intense focus, creative engagement, and the loss of awareness of time and

self,” (Flow). This is true because I often find myself forgetting that practice was 3 hours and

want to keep playing after we finish for the day. I would also say that achieving flow is the

happiest part of my day even though it begins with the stress of how I am feeling physically. For

weekday 2, I was mostly emotionally upset with how I had to miss practice and classes to rest
and feel better. I was happy the entire day Saturday because I spent the entire day with friends

and did not focus on school work at the time.

Topic 3- I normally save my free time for the evening time because I like to relax before

I sleep. If I save my homework until the last few hours of the day, I will not sleep as well as if I

were to relax before. This also helps me not to worry that I have things leftover that I have not

finished yet at the end of the day. I make it my goal to finish schoolwork before I relax because I

can feel accomplished and look back at the productive day I had. This adds most of the value

that I have when spending my free time. I also experienced negative emotions when I had too

much free time and not enough social contact when I was sick (weekday 2). “Having too much

free time comes with a string of disadvantages such as boredom, procrastination, anxiety and

even depression,” (Lévesque). I have felt boredom and procrastination in this one-day period like

never before. Without volleyball practice and classes, I was alone most of the day and had too

much time to finish my homework. I ended up taking a long nap during the middle of the day

and still had no idea what to do with myself. This has shown me that there is a happy medium of

having too much free time and having too little free time.

Conclusion- By looking at the 3 days I have tracked, I can say that I have learned the

effects of having too much free time and having too little. This has led me to think about how I

can fill my free time with more enjoyable activities to prevent boredom and procrastination of

schoolwork. A result of tracking a day when I was sick was that I had a total of 40.5 personal

hours, 13 hours of work, and 18.5 hours of leisure. Most of the leisure time was from the

weekend day and I did not have much work to tend to for school or volleyball that week. I was

mostly with other people during these days for a total of 59 hours and alone for only 13 hours.
This activity has shown me that how we spend our free time can affect how our well-being and

emotions so much.
 References

Flow | psychology Today. (n.d.). Retrieved November 14, 2021, from

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/flow

G., D. (2021, November 01). How much time does the average American spend on their

phone? Retrieved November 14, 2021, from https://techjury.net/blog/how-much-

time-does-the-average-american-spend-on-their-phone/#gref

Lévesque, W. (n.d.). Mind your mind: How to make having too much free time

constructive. Retrieved November 14, 2021, from

https://www.ubyssey.ca/opinion/mind-your-mind-how-to-make-having-too-much-

free-time-constructive/