[ForrestN]

I'm not trying to say he has a "bad" life or is doing a "bad job" at something. But he seems to be saying that these things are meaningful as a representation of a year in his life. It's not bad to text or drink coffee or ride the bus, but I wouldn't want to think of a year in my life in these terms.

[gknoy]

Just because these metrics show evidence of how his time was spent, doesn't mean that's how he thinks of the year. He might think of it as time spent staying connected with far-away friends, while writing awesome code for a company he loves.

As a parent, I have often wondered how much of my time is spent changing diapers, getting water/milk/juice for my kids, overseeing clean-up time, doing bathtime, reading, etc. I'd love to be able to look at a metric of this over the course of a year. If, at the end of the year, I had an annual report which included all of that (and work time), it would be very interesting to me as a way to understand my life better. I already think of myself as a parent, and know that these are the costs of being one, but that's not the only way I think of my life in a year.

[lelandbatey]

Exactly. The reality is that we do spend most of our time doing rather mundane things, but that's not a bad thing. Characterizing a year in those terms is often really useful, and always interesting!

[lelandbatey]

I guess. However, rather like any organization, I think it's good to review what has actually constituted the activities of a year.

I think there's some utility, and certainly some novelty in taking a very frank look at what you've done in a year. I'm sure that there are short, personal moments and achievements from this year that define it for him. Lessons learned, moments of growth, of love, of victory and of failure.

However, this is looking not at the interesting individual moments, but at the more mundane (but plentiful) every day things.

Given that, I'd love to see a follow up post of what the year meant to the OP on a more personal level. A blog post that covers those moments of growth, love, learning, and victory.

[frogpelt]

It's interesting that the mundane stood out to you.

The huge Computer Activity break in the first half of August stood out to me.