From experience: how to and how not to use this system.
Don't let perfection become the enemy of progress. Use what helps. Ignore what doesn't. The system isn't demanding anything from you.
When I was designing Axis, I had a concern that stayed with me throughout the entire process. What if someone starts using this and feels like every second has to be accounted for? No open spots on the calendar. Detailed feedback on every session. Zero gaps. The tool that was supposed to reduce their cognitive load becomes its own burden to manage.
It sounds like a strange thing to worry about when you're building a productivity system. But as the feedback loops and tracking and AI analysis took shape, I kept asking myself: how do I limit someone's need to interact with this and still deliver real value? How do I communicate the right and wrong ways to use it before they figure it out the hard way?
The first time I demoed Axis to a few friends, one of the first questions I got was "so do I have to log every minute?" That was never the intent. Not even close.
This article is roughly the north star for not overusing the system. Everything below is what I wish I could tell every new user before they dive in.
Don't treat this like an accounting system. Use it like a budget.#
Think about personal finance for a second. You could track every single cent — categorize your morning coffee, split the gray-area purchases, reconcile every last discrepancy. My personal favorite — you're on a group trip, you front a big expense, people pay you back on Venmo. Your budgeting app goes a little berserk. You overspent and your income is suddenly off. Do you actually go back in and fix it, or do you just log that mentally and move on? Anyone who's actually gotten control of their finances will tell you the same thing: watch the big expenses. Know where your rent, your car payment, your groceries are going — and maybe those subscriptions you forgot you were still paying for. Do that well and you have real power over your budget. The pennies will largely take care of themselves.
Axis is no different. We give you a calendar where you can log every minute of your day. Every session has feedback built in — how did it go, how did you feel, did you accomplish what you set out to do, notes, goal attribution. You could fill all of it out every single time, make every adjustment as your day shifts, keep everything pristine. And your summaries and insights would reflect that.
But after dogfooding this system for over a month, I'm going to tell you it probably doesn't matter. What actually drives the insights is capturing the important stuff — the meaningful sessions, the real drops or peaks in energy, the big interruptions, the accomplishments worth noting. Get those right and the system has what it needs. I think 80% accuracy is a genuinely good target.
If you want to test this yourself, try it both ways. Spend a week logging everything meticulously, then spend a week keeping things intentionally loose. See if the trends line up with your actual experience. The system is yours to experiment with — do what works for you.