Why Consistency is Hard?

So, you’ve decided to track your time. You’re convinced it will help you stay on track and reach your goals (if not read this article [link]).

Sounds easy, right? Just log your hours and watch your progress grow. In theory, yes. In practice? Not so much.

I thought tracking my time would be simple too—until I actually tried to do it consistently. I ran into all sorts of friction that made it harder than I expected. Over time, I realized that most time tracking tools weren’t designed for people like me—someone who just wanted to see how much time they had invested toward a goal.

This is my experience with time tracking, what I learned I needed and what’s the solution.

My Time Tracking Struggles

(In this article, I’ll refer to the “Note App,” but this also includes the good old-fashioned pen-and-paper method.)

A while ago, I set a goal to learn Spanish. I was motivated and committed to putting in 500 hours over the next year. Naturally, I needed a way to track my time.

Method 1: The Note App (Pen & Paper Approach)

My first instinct was to go with a free and the simplest option: writing it down.

I opened Apple Notes and added a bullet point every time I did something related to learning Spanish.

Surprisingly, this worked really well. It was quick, foolproof, and frictionless. I could jot down an entry in seconds and move on. Everything was smooth sailing—until the end of the month.

That’s when I ran into my first real problem. I wanted to know how many hours I had accumulated, but there was no easy way to total everything up. I had to copy and paste everything into Excel, create formulas, and manually tally my hours. It wasn’t hard, but the extra step felt unnecessary.

The optimizer in me saw this and thought: “There has to be a better way…”

Method 2: Time Tracking Apps (Clockify & Toggl)

A quick Google search led me to Clockify and Toggl, two of the most popular time tracking apps. I gave them both a shot.

Clockify

I started with Clockify because their free plan seemed generous enough that I’d never need to upgrade. That experiment lasted… two weeks.

Clockify was too annoying to use.

• Every time I logged an activity, I had to input the start time, end time, and a project.
• The web app was okay, but the mobile experience was frustrating.

I wanted to track my time, not fill out a form every time I did something. After two weeks of struggling with the clunky interface, I moved on.

Toggl

I wasn’t thrilled about trying Toggl because most of itsbest features were locked behind a paywall. But I convinced myself—if it really changed my life, maybe spending $100 per year would be worth it. This experiment also only lasted two weeks.

The first thing I noticed? Toggl had way better design.

• The user experience was cleaner.
• The mobile app felt intuitive.

But then I ran into the same issue as Clockify—too many required fields. Now, I wasn’t just entering start and end times. I also had to add:

• A title
• A description
• Tags
• A client

It felt overwhelming. And here’s what really made me quit: I forgot to log my activities one weekend, and when I tried to add them retroactively, I got anxious about doing it “wrong.”

I had to think: “What exactly did I do? How should I categorize it? What’s the correct way to fill this out?”

It took so much effort just to figure out how to log my past activities that I just gave up.

What I Learned from These Apps

These tools weren’t built for people like me. They were designed for freelancers and contractors—people who need to track billable hours, organize tasks by client, and optimize their workflow. That makes sense for them. But for someone like me, who just wanted to track time toward a personal goal?

All that extra structure was not just unnecessary—it was even counterproductive. If my goal was to log 500 hours of Spanish study, why should I be worrying about tags, projects, and descriptions? Wouldn’t it be easier to just write down a total number of hours and move on?

The more complicated the process, the harder it was to stay consistent. So I took a step back and asked myself: “What do I actually need in a time tracker?”

What Makes Time Tracking Sustainable?

After months of trial and error, I realized the two most important factors that make time tracking sustainable over the long run:

1. It has to be easy to use.
2. It has to be future-proof.

Let’s compare the Note App vs. Time Tracking Apps to see why these matter.

Ease of Use

Let’s say I just finished a Spanish class and want to log my time.

Note App / Pen & Paper Approach

• Write down: Date – Class – Hours

Time Tracking App Approach

• Open the app
• Select a start time
• Select an end time
• Add a title
• Add a description
• Choose a tag
• Assign a client
• Select a project

See the problem? The more effort it takes to log an activity, the harder it is to stay consistent. Time tracking apps add too much friction for non-freelancers.

Meanwhile, the Note App had a simple, unstructured flow — I could even bulk-log my hours at the end of the week without feeling like I did something wrong.

Winner: Note App

Future-Proofing

Another key factor is long-term reliability.

Note App / Pen & Paper

✅ Free forever

✅ Customizable

✅ No risk of losing access

Time Tracking App

❌ Features are tiered behind paywalls

❌ Subscription required

❌ Risk of price increases

No matter how much I commit to a paid time tracking app, I know that if I stop paying, I lose my data. For a business expense, that makes sense. For a personal tool? That’s just stressful.

Winner: Note App

Final Thoughts: What Actually Works?

Ironically, I realized that the best tool I found for time tracking wasn’t even a time tracking app.

The Note App worked way better than any app I tried. But I still wished it had a few small improvements—like showing me my total time or basic data points (e.g., total time spent this month).

That’s when I had the realization: “If no app fits my needs… why not build one?”

Conclusion

Tracking time consistently is much more realistic if the tool you use is simple and reliable. Since I couldn’t find a tool that fit my needs, I built one: Steady Stride—the simplest time tracker.

My mission? A time tracker for normal people, not freelancers. Learn if it’s the right tool for you here.