Okay, so “Pretty Good Year,” huh? Sounds kinda boring, but trust me, it was a wild ride. I decided at the start of the year I needed a better way to track, well, everything. My life felt like a bunch of sticky notes scattered in a hurricane. So, I embarked on this journey to find the perfect system. Spoiler alert: there’s no such thing, but I got pretty darn close.
The Hunt Begins
First, I hit up the internet, of course. Searched for “best productivity system,” “life tracking apps,” all that jazz. Ended up with a million tabs open, feeling more confused than when I started. Bullet journals, Notion templates, fancy apps with subscription fees… it was overwhelming.
I decided to start simple. Grabbed a cheap notebook and a pen. Old school. I started by just jotting down what I did each day. No fancy layouts, no color-coding, just raw data. Like:
- 7:00 AM: Woke up, felt like a zombie.
- 7:30 AM: Coffee! Sweet, sweet coffee.
- 8:00 AM – 5:00 PM: Work. Meetings, emails, the usual grind.
- 6:00 PM: Gym. Actually went!
- 7:30 PM: Dinner with the family.
- 9:00 PM: Watched some dumb TV.
- 10:30 PM: Bed.
Getting a Bit Fancier
After a couple of weeks of this, I started to see some patterns. I was way more productive in the mornings. My energy crashed after lunch. I skipped the gym way too often. This basic data was actually useful!
So, I leveled up. I created some simple categories: Work, Health, Family, Personal. I started rating each day on a scale of 1 to 5 for each category. 1 being “total disaster” and 5 being “nailed it!”
This is where things got interesting. I could now see at a glance which areas of my life were thriving and which needed some love. It was like a little report card for my life.
The Digital Upgrade
The notebook was working, but it was also kinda clunky. I wanted something I could access on my phone, too. So, I moved everything to a simple spreadsheet. Nothing fancy, just columns for the date, categories, ratings, and a few notes.
The spreadsheet was a game-changer. I could add charts and graphs (nerd alert!), which made the patterns even clearer. I could see that my “Health” rating was consistently low on weekends (too much pizza, not enough movement). I could see that my “Work” rating was highest when I blocked out specific times for focused work.
The “Pretty Good” Result
The current setup isn’t perfect. Some days, the rating is difficult and not accurate.
But after all the struggles, I am happy with the result now, it’s pretty good, right?
So, is this the perfect system? Nope. But it’s my system. It’s “pretty good,” and it’s helped me make some real, positive changes. It’s shown me where I’m strong and where I need to put in more effort. And that, my friends, is worth more than any fancy app or complicated template.
