In the video, I show off my Daily Tracking spreadsheet. Just a warning, the spreadsheet does have macros so you will get some security warnings when you download and open it. While the spreadsheet is very cool, the more important thing is deciding what to track.
Is it under my Control?
A while back I was trying to lose some weight and get in better shape. It is easy to focus on the end result…how much weight you want to lose. Focusing on that number is actually the least important thing to focus on because there are a lot of factors that affect weight loss. What I ended up focusing on was the handful of things I could control…how much sleep I was getting, when I was eating, and was I exercising. By focusing on the actions that I could control, I found success reaching the results I want.
What I ended up doing is basically writing my goals as a formula. For example:
Weight Goal = 7 or more hours of sleep + 30 minutes exercise + intermittent fasting
This formula shifted my focus from the thing I had little control over to those actions that are largely under my control. Is the thing I’m measuring an action I can control?
- Step 1: Write down your goal and make it specific
- Step 2: Write down all the actions that you can take towards reaching the goal
Is it a Habit?
Much of what we do during a day can be traced back to our habits. We do a lot of things without giving them much thought. I recommend reading Atomic Habits by James Clear where he compares our habits to compound interest. Compound interest makes life easier if you have money in the bank, but it makes life more difficult if you are earning interest on debt. Similar is true with good habits and bad habits. Good habits like exercise will make your life easier. Bad habits like smoking will make your life more difficult.
I recommend tracking your habits…either the bad habits you want to change or the good habits you want to develop. The goal would be that after 3-6 months, you won’t even need to track this anymore. The bad habit is in your past, or the good habit happens automatically.
It has now been two years since I focused on losing weight. It is now much easier to get enough sleep, exercise, and follow my diet. I’m living off the interest of good habits I developed in the past. Is the action I’m tracking a habit I want to develop or a habit I want to quit?
- Step 3: Cross off actions that are not habits such as one-time events
Is it Significant?
I like to track everything. I love data and spreadsheets. It is easy to forget that not all numbers are equally important. When I wanted to lose weight, there are a number of other things I could have focused on such as reducing stress or eating better or cold showers (which I actually did for a time).
When attempting to lose weight, I noticed that if I wasn’t getting enough sleep, the odds of me doing poorly on exercise or diet increased. Sleep had a lot more weight in the equation than anything else. I ended up basically assigning a value of how important I thought each action was towards reaching my goal. Sleep ended up being 50%. Exercise was 20%. Diet was 20%. Everything else was 10%. I would be a fool to focus on the dozen items that make up the 10% while ignoring the three actions that had the biggest impact on my success. Is habit significant in contributing to my likelihood of success?
- Step 4: Circle the most important habits to focus on
- Step 5: If the circled habits are not equally important, determine which is most important
- Step 6: Develop a really cool spreadsheet to track the most important habits (or you can use pen and paper or an app)
Useful Links
- Tracking Spreadsheet: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/gv777b4hqk4e2yi4929v4/Daily_Tracker.xlsm?rlkey=z459somhyhd33hku95f57z8y9&dl=0
- Rian Doris Video on Valuing Work: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ImBlQJAMCQY
- 7 Principles for Making a Marriage Work: https://www.amazon.com/Seven-Principles-Making-Marriage-Work/dp/0553447718