This is exactly the absurdity people outside academia never see. Universities love to preach academic freedom, yet behind the curtain faculty are forced to operate inside a fictional accounting universe. Every hour of their lives must be pre-assigned, billed, and certified to a specific task as if they are in a law firm filling out time sheets. You’re required to swear — literally certify in writing — that 12% of your year is devoted to Aim 2 of Grant X, 18% to Aim 1 of Grant Y, 7% to a core facility, 10% to teaching, and so on. It’s a fantasy world of percentages that never add up to reality. In practice, no one actually works this way. No scientist on earth divides their mind or their time into bureaucratic fractions of effort. It’s not how research happens. It’s not how human cognition works. It’s an accounting fiction imposed by institutions so they can harvest grant money and make their operations appear compliant. Effort reporting is a bureaucratic charade to keep money flowing, not a reflection of how science or human work actually happens.