This Ridiculously Detailed Chart Helped Me Stick to New Year’s Resolutions for Five Years
New Year is my favorite holiday. I like a certain time to look forward and look back, ideally when I’m getting drunk with friends . The arrival of a new year is also a time when I’m grateful for my habit of writing down every little thing—and I don’t just mean writing down my thoughts and feelings in a journal. I’m talking about tracking every book you read, every mile you run, and every beer you drink (approximately). So, if you’re interested in documenting your life – and you should be! – I highly recommend using an amazingly detailed spreadsheet .
I’m not talking about journaling (that can be cool , but I think it’s too difficult from an artistic point of view). I simply create a Google spreadsheet full of differently color-coded tabs so that I can keep track of any number of ways to measure the year . From the most meticulous travel plans to curated to-do lists , if you have a goal, that goal needs a spreadsheet tab.
It’s a fun, slightly nerdy technique that helps me visualize my life in a way that a traditional journal can’t. That’s why I think you should start your own spreadsheet this year to keep track of all the little things in your life.
How to turn anything into a trackable achievement
The e-zine is perfect for us freaks who like to combine sentimentality with statistics. Whatever metrics you choose to record, you can frame them around a sense of accomplishment. Your smartwatch can track how many steps you have taken. However, the spreadsheet log is a place where you can estimate how many steps you’ve already taken . After that, you can have fun with the numbers, converting those steps into miles or finding patterns over time or whatever suits your nerdy brain.
Go crazy. Create different tabs dedicated to different areas of your life so you can appreciate how much you have going on. I’ll share some ideas in the next section, but at the end of the day, a spreadsheet is an easy, highly effective alternative to using words all the time, so don’t get too carried away. in detail. This technique is really about realizing the value of every little number that defines your life.
How to create a tracking table
First things first: choose a spreadsheet software. I prefer the convenience of Google Sheets, but understand that you may have some privacy concerns. Or maybe you’re just an Excel wizard . For some formatting ideas, check out this article on creating the perfect travel table. The main takeaway is to create one master file with as many tabs as you see fit. Include tabs tracking your health/fitness goals, books/movies/TV shows you’ve consumed, your finances/budget, and anything else that’s important to you:
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Hours of sleep
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Miles walked
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Concerts attended
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Movies watched
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The books have begun
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Books are finished
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The dates have passed
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Places visited
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Gifts are presented
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Thank you letter sent
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Time spent in traffic
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Playlists created
Be sure to include a column for adding notes to your entries—personal comments to bring your stats to life.
I’ve created a sample template that you can download here . Shown here are examples of drop-down menus and color coding that I personally use to track my travels, books read, and marathon training .
How to Maximize Your Table
You can highlight a column on each tab to record different notes, but for the sake of neatness, try not to overcrowd the fields with text. This also helps keep formatting consistent, such as making the title of each metric bold. I color the code as I wish. For example, as a stand-up comedian, I write all my shows in a certain color to indicate how I feel about them: shades of green mean the show went well, and shades of red mean the show… didn’t go well. go well. In a time when everything in my life seems to be red, it’s nice to be able to shift my gaze to everything green. Perspective!
At the end of the year, you can use all this data to visualize both the big and small events in your life over the past 12 months. At first glance, you’ll be able to pat yourself on the back for how well you’ve cut down on caffeine, increased your time spent outdoors, or improved your book start-to-finish ratio. Ultimately, my own spreadsheet is about appreciating all the little things in my life, even if I do it in one of the most boring ways imaginable.