Starting the month of tracking every minute

It’s Thanksgiving of 2024. We are at the end of the eleventh month of the year. It’s almost time for everyones year in review posts…

Then something hits me. It’s time for my year in review post. Oh no. Then something hits me even harder. What have I gotten done this year?

As I stare down at my plate full of turkey, yams, mashed potatoes and mac and cheese, I start to look back at the year. The sad truth is that I did not get any of the stuff that I said I wanted to get done back in January.

That doesn’t mean I have just sat around doing nothing. I have responsibilities. I have a wife and kids. I even have two dogs. They are all fed and sheltered, so I am doing something right. But, I have this nagging feeling that I could have and should have gotten way more done.

I am not sure how many trips around the sun I have left, so I should do everything that I can to make sure that I make the most of the time I have right?

But how do I do that?

I have goals. I have responsibilities. How to I make sure that I actually do the stuff I say that I want to do, instead of just dreaming about doing it one day?

Step 0

If I take a step back from my situation, push back the Thanksgiving plate and really think about what went wrong. It’s really hard for me to find a singular problem. As an example, one of my goals was to get 2,500 users for my SaaS application.

Why? Why not? If you really want to know, the reason behind 2,500 is that I’ve had SaaS applications with 1,000 users before. So I wanted to double that number.

Cool goal. How much time did I put into it?

Your guess is as good as mine. One thing I know for sure is that I did not put enough time in because I did not reach my goal. Another thing I know is that I put no where near enough time in because I can’t look at myself in the mirror and say I tried my best.

Pretty rough. I know. I can sit around have a pity party and blame everyone else, especially my dogs, for my failings. Or I can try to do something about it.

Thus step 0. The step before the first step. Right now, I have no idea if I didn’t get users because my app sucks or because no one knows about it. I’m ok with failing. But did I fail if I never tried? The obvious answer is I still failed, less obvious is that I might have had a winner idea, but never tried it, which is a way worse type of failure. This is the type of failure that I would like to avoid.

Simple Formulas for Life

Why is it that we overcomplicate some of the easiest and most important formulas in our lives?

First example, diet.

This coming from the guy that was just telling you about his Thanksgiving plate that had turkey, mashed potatoes, yams and mac and cheese… Do as I say not as I do.

More seriously, the formula for diet is pretty simple. Burn more calories then you consume and you lose weight.

Slow down with your yelling at the computer about macros, keto, fasting and the paleo diet. I am sure all of those diets are the best ones. I am also sure that calories in < calories burned you lose weight.

Personal finance can also be boiled down to one simple formula. Spend less then you make.

Ok, I just solved two of the most complicated areas of your life in less than 200 words. You are welcome.

Unfortunately, knowing what to do, is not the same as doing it.

Two easy questions to illustrate my point:

• How many calories do you eat daily?
• What are your monthly household expenses?

No estimates allowed.

The very real come to Jesus moment in both diet and finance is when you start tracking the inputs and outputs of the system.

If you want to start and succeed at dieting, starting tracking your calories. I promise. Your mind will be blown. If you’ve never done it before, I cannot recommend it enough.

If you want to start taking control over your finances, start tracking every dollar in and every dollar out. Again, this is not checking your bank balance every day to make sure you still have money. This is noticing that you are spending 55% of your income on uber eats. No judgement, as long as you are aware and that’s how you want to spend your money.

What do dieting and finances have to do with goals?

Nothing and everything.

Dieting and finances are both complex areas, very similar to goals and time management.

As I’ve mentioned, the most effective way to improve in both those areas is with a simple formula. I am not sure if there is an applicable simple formula for time management. I should probably try to figure one out.

More importantly, I know that the first step in using my time better is knowing where my time is spent.

So for the next 31 days. I am going to track every minute of every day. What fancy app am I going to sue for this mission? The best one I know, the calendar. In my case, I am a google guy, so I am just going to use google calendar.

Again, similar to diet and finances, the goal is not strict adherence to some ideal of time management. If it’s my sons birthday, I am going to eat a piece of cake. If one of my darn dogs has a medical issue, I am going to break the budget (maybe). I am not planning on working towards my goals every waking minute of the day.

But I do plan on knowing how much time I actually spent on working towards my goal.

If you have any interest in seeing how it goes, please follow along here on x.

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