A carver marks the sweep curve before the blade moves. Free hours need the same habit after the week ends: a short mark that says what was cut, what it cost, and whether the groove stayed inside the pad.
The mark is not a second accounting system. Three lines are enough: hours used, money in, costs out. If the mark takes longer than the work itself, the tool has become the job.
When to write it
Write the mark on the same day the channel ends — often Sunday evening or Monday morning before the day job starts. A mark left for "later" becomes a guess. Guesses crowd the next cut.
What the mark decides
If the rate after costs is too thin, the next week gets a narrower channel or no channel at all. If the hours spilled into weeknights that were not written down, the next week starts with a smaller groove. Gouge Pad does not publish earnings promises. The mark is a steering note, not a score.
Read next: carving clean channels in the week and grooves that crowd the bench.