I Tracked Every Hour I Worked for 5 Weeks — Here’s What I Learned

How much do I actually work as a self-employed artist?
For 5 weeks, I tracked every single hour — from clay work to admin, from yoga teaching to glaze tests, from deep creative flow to… cleaning up.

In this video, I break down:
✅ Why I decided to track my time
✅ What counts as “real work” (spoiler: it’s not just studio hours)
✅ 13 work categories from my creative life
✅ What surprised me the most — and what I’m changing because of it

This is for anyone navigating the blurry, beautiful mess of self-employment — especially if you wear multiple hats like I do.

✨ If you’ve ever felt like you’re “always working” but not sure where your time goes… this one’s for you.

00:33 – Why I decided to track my hours
02:07 – What are overhead hours?
03:57 – How I tracked my time
05:05 – Categories of work (studio work, glaze testing, tutoring, social media, YouTube, education, admin, communication, yoga teaching, clean-up & repairs, photography, pottery teaching, volunteering)
08:29 – Time breakdown: where the hours went
12:41 – Insight #1: I work a lot
14:14 – Insight #2: I don’t get enough studio time
15:22 – Insight #3: I didn’t account for my overhead hours
15:56 – Insight #4: Tracking made me more productive!

📍 Based in LA | Ceramics • Texture • Teaching • Life
My website: https://loramceramics.com/
My Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/loram.ceramics/
My course on textures (and glazes) in ceramics: https://www.loramceramics.com/textures-in-ceramics/
Support me on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/MariaLoram

Loram Ceramics Youtube Channel