I catch myself scrolling up and down a piece of code. What was I doing? I’m so restless I can’t sit still, I keep tabbing between projects. It was 3h since I was interrupted and I don’t know what I’ve been doing since. Nothing wastes time like being overwhelmed. But there’s a way out of this trap that is slowly gaining popularity.

This method I first encountered as interstitial journaling, I written about it before. A few weeks ago I caught Rahul Vohra from Superhuman describe how he uses the same method to track his time on Lenny’s podcast and I realised it’s even more powerful today. In this new dawning era of AI tools using a switch log becomes a super power in the fight against overwhelm.

Every time I switch contexts, so when I change tasks or get interrupted, I write a quick note. Just three things: the time, what I was doing. What I’m switching to.

Doing this creates a log of how I’m spending my time. And this is the real change with ai. Having this log I can toss it into an LLM and ask it to summarise what I’ve been working on. How much time I’ve spent on different categories of tasks and projects.

This method really helps my mind close the thread of my previous task. So I feel much less overwhelmed.

It also helps me stay on track, because I can just look back in my notes app and see what I was working on that got interrupted 2h ago.

It’s such a big added value for me that I find myself recommending it to everyone. It works best if you’re spending the majority of your time in front of a keyboard.

Building the habit takes one to two weeks. The key is to not care that you forgot, and just keep starting every time you switch.

The trigger is switching mental gears. Even if just for a second. And you can create an easy keyboard shortcut that automatically adds the time. So you feel the trigger, you write down what you worked on and what you’re switching to:

10:34 Writing some thoughts on switchlog. Email from Alex (business partner).

The mental clarity is immediate, you’ll feel it the same day you start. Going back in time to restart previous tasks seems to start happening after a few days. And time tracking this way works best after two weeks. I use Tana for this. Rahul uses a slack-bot for his. And you can use any todo list, note taking app, or chat tool. Which tool isn’t important. The habit is the important piece.

Feeling overwhelmed and not using time effectively have always been limiting road blocks for ambitious people. The speed that AI provides is just making it worse. This method can help you stay on track, and gives you the opportunity to reflect on how you spend your time.

Please reach out with how it’s working for you!